A growing number of indjviduals in this country, who share a common background, are gaining academic success, accessing work-related training, further and higher education, and entering rewarding occupations. Their common background is home-schooling. They have received all or part of their 'compulsory' years of education at home. This is a study of a small number of such individuals aged sixteen and over. I include case studies of their family's home-schooling experiences and focus on the legacy that this 'alternative' education has provided for their transition into 'institutionalised' learning - at school, college, university or workplace. I explore political, historical and philosophical perspectives of the 'movement', which has escalated rapidly in the USA over the past twenty years and is gaining impetus in the UK. Views expressed by Education Authority officers, teachers and employers also help me to frame my inquiry into whether this educational provision presents an appropriate rather than (as I initially viewed it ) a radical alternative to school. As well as revealing the development of my understanding of this multifaceted, alternative form of 'child-centred' education, this study also examines the methodological complexities of the inquiry.

This thesis aims to design an appropriate human-following solution for a mobile robot. The research can be characterised as interactive model building for a Human Robot Interaction (HRI) scenario. It studies possible proposals for the robot system that learns to accomplish the task autonomously, based on the human preference about the positions and movements of the robot during the interaction. A multilayered feedforward network framework with backpropagation is the adopted learning strategy. The research breaks the task of following a human into three independent behaviours: social positioning, human avoidance and obstacle avoidance. Social positioning is the behaviour that moves the robot, via reasonable paths, to the most appropriate location to follow the human. Both the location and the paths reflect the preference of the human, which varies by individual. The main body of the research therefore proposes a using-while-learning system for this behaviour such that the robot can adapt to the human’s preference autonomously. This research investigated multilayered feedforward networks with backpropagation learning to fulfil the social learning task. This learning model is less used in HRI because a complete set of correct training data doesn’t exist as the human preference is initially unknown. The research proposes a novel method to generate the training data during the operation of learning and introduces the concept of adaptive and reactive learning. A novel training scheme that combines the two learning threads has been proposed, in which the learning is fast, robust and able to adapt to new features of the human preference online. The system enables the behaviour to be a real using-while-learning system as no pre-training of any form is needed to ensure the successful performance of the behaviour. Extensive simulations and interactive experiments with humans have also been conducted to prove the robustness of the system.

The concept of learner autonomy (LA) in second/foreign language education has been the central focus for many researchers (Benson, 2007, 2011, 2013; Holec, 1981; Gu & Nguyen, 2013; Little, 2007, 2009 and others) and has become a part of mainstream practice of language education in some educational contexts; however, there is still a high interest in researching language learner autonomy and ways to foster it. Partially, this renewed interest is due to advances in technology and pedagogy such as self-access centers, distance learning, blended learning and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) in general and changes in educational policies (Benson 2011, 2013). Modern language learners are exposed to various choices in their language education such as numerous learning modes and a variety of language learning resources. However, this change means that learners must be capable of making informed decisions about their language education and taking some control over it in order to become successful and maximize their learning experience. There are examples of autonomous learning programs which place autonomy at the center, worldwide. Recently, the Center of English as a Second Language (CESL) at the University of Arizona (UA) created and implemented a new educational practice, Program for Intentional Learning (PIL). The goal of this program is to foster LA as well as equip CESL students with knowledge, skills, tools, and resources to be successful in both language learning and their future American college education. PIL is a hybrid program in terms of combining different approaches to fostering LA: resource-based, technology-based, curriculum-based, learner-based, and teacher-based (Benson, 2011).Responding to Benson's (2011) and Nguyen's (2012) call for more rigor in research on LA and educational interventions to promote LA, this dissertation follows the guidelines proposed by Nguyen (2012): a) having a clear operationalized definition of LA, (b) implementing both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and (c) piloting and validating tools. This dissertation examines the effectiveness of the PIL program in terms of its capacity to foster LA and to help CESL students to become more successful in learning English. The evaluation of the program was conducted as a multiple-case study of four participants with a mixed-method research design. The present study draws upon a main survey which measures a degree of LA as pre- and post-test, interviews with case study participants and their instructors, learning diary, and action plan comparison. Even though the comparison of pre- and post-survey scores revealed that only two case study participants had a significant change towards greater LA, all four participants reported changes in their learning behaviors. These changes point to a higher degree of LA, and all participants shared a positive overall evaluation of the PIL workshops. The study suggests that this type of educational intervention to promote LA can be effective, especially in developing metacognitive knowledge and skills, increasing participants' motivation and changing their attitude towards language learning and their teachers.

Service-learning (SL) is a socially embedded and experience-based pedagogy that develops the link between theory and practice through community engagement. It fosters learning outcomes for students and benefits for community members. This thesis builds on recent applications of the pedagogy and advances our understanding of SL by studying a limit case of student autonomy in the absence of faculty intervention. Student-community and peer-to-peer relationships are particularly influential on students' lived experience if their interactions are unmediated by educators. This thesis firstly explores how students enact SL if left to their own devices. Secondly, by adopting a relational embeddedness perspective, it investigates the influence of student-community and peer-to-peer relations on participants' learning experience. An organisational (“at-home”) ethnography in a student-led social enterprise yielded insights into the two streams of research. The findings suggest that students' learning process consisted of a blend of emergent and deliberate micro learning processes that highlight the importance of - among other components of students' learning experience - role enactment, student autonomy, peer engagement, informal learning, and community co-education. With regards to the relationality of this limit case of SL, community and peer relations had an enabling and constraining influence on student learning. The findings further speak to the causality of such impact and suggest that the nature of inter-personal relationships determined the effects they had on students' experiential basis for learning. These findings contribute to the debate about the promise, effectiveness, and principles of SL in business and management education by problematizing student autonomy and faculty intervention. Moreover, this thesis responds to a gap in the literature and sheds light on the relationality of the pedagogy.

This research study presents an investigation of interpreter trainees acquiring New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) as a second language (L2) outside their formal classroom learning. This study was motivated firstly by a concern that a considerable reduction in learner and lecturer contact hours within an NZSL interpreting programme would compromise graduate NZSL competency, necessitating a compensatory approach predominantly in the context of the Deaf community. Secondly, the study attempts to address a marked gap in research related to L2 sign language learning from a socio-cultural perspective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in a bilingual context (NZSL and English) in order to gain the ‘inside’ perspectives of six NZSL learners who had just completed a two-year Diploma in Sign Language Interpreting. The interviews sought to uncover the informal NZSL language learning opportunities used by the participants, especially within the social context of the Deaf community, and the individual learner strategies utilised by ‘good learners’ of NZSL. Interview data were transcribed and were analysed by employing qualitative methods. Coding of the data revealed a number of categories which were subsequently examined for salient themes relating to the research questions. The main findings of the study revolved around the significance of L2 learner access to social and material resources, especially within the Deaf socio-cultural context. Of particular significance was the enhancement of learner motivation and confidence as was the frequency and depth of interaction with Deaf people and degree of mediated NZSL learning from NZSL mentors. Of key importance were the social relationships and networks developed with L1 users, which facilitated access to an array of NZSL learning opportunities. Material language learning resources, such as NZSL video samples and equipment were also useful, when interaction with Deaf people was not possible due to heavy study demands, especially in the second year of the programme. Learner involvement in the Deaf community, particularly within Deaf social networks, resulted in significantly improved linguistic, pragmatic and socio-cultural competency. The findings of the study raise two main implications. Firstly, the study highlights the need for NZSL interpreting curriculum enrichment and the resourcing of the programme to foster learner autonomy. Secondly, to date there has been little research on adult L2 sign language learning outside the classroom context and the study may stimulate further studies of the acquisition of sign language as a second language. The study may also be of benefit to autonomous L2 sign language learners and stakeholders in sign language interpreting education around the world.

Bakgrunden till studien är att forskningen visar att elever i svårigheter utvecklas mest kunskapsmässigt och mår bäst socialt av att inkluderas i klassens undervisning. Trots detta finns det väldigt ofta en önskan att exkludera dessa elever eftersom många lärare inte anser sig klara elever med specialpedagogiska behov inom den ordinarie undervisningens ram. Detta har lett till en rättvise- och inkluderingsdebatt såväl som en debatt med ekonomiska förtecken. Frågor som lyfts är ”Var mår eleverna bäst och finns det metoder som fungerar så att alla elever kan inkluderas”? Min studie syftar till att undersöka möjligheten till ett inkluderande arbetssätt i engelskundervisningen med hjälp av Europeisk Språk Portfolio och Autonomous Learning. Studien visar att dessa förutsättningar finns, men att det samtidigt kräver en stor praktisk, social och strukturell insats från läraren samt en viss mognad och baskunskap från elevens sida. Det framkommer även att det optimala är ett samarbete med specialläraren samt en stor trygghet i gruppen oavsett arbetssätt och metod. Studien visar också att det finns en viss oenighet mellan hur eleverna ser på vikten av inkludering och vad forskningen och lärarna anser.

Denna uppsats, Läraren och den praktiska verkligheten, handlar om hur lärare gör för att omforma sina ämneskunskaper till ämnesdidaktiska, vilka metoder de använder i undervisningen för att medvetandegöra elevernas inlärning, samt hur lärarna gör för att utmana och inspirera elevernas lärande och kunskapsutveckling. Teorierna som använts i studien är läranderum, proximala utvecklingszonen, autonomous learning, learning to learn och pedagogical content knowledge, vilka även ligger till grund för den analyserande delen. Resultaten i studien visar att en fungerande gruppdynamik är avgörande för en god arbetsmiljö, en ständig dialog utifrån elevens perspektiv bör föras för att skapa medvetenhet hos eleven gällande lärprocessen. Utveckling av självständigt lärande sker genom tydlig kommunikation mellan lärare och elever, det vill säga att läraren är tydlig med anledningen till arbetsområdet, informationen kring anvisningarna, samt finns som en tydlig vägledare för att guida eleven genom ämnet. Vidare handlar omformning av ämneskunskaper för lärare i praktiken om att reflektera, utvärdera och utveckla planeringen och den genomförda undervisningen.

This research study presents an investigation of interpreter trainees acquiring New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) as a second language (L2) outside their formal classroom learning. This study was motivated firstly by a concern that a considerable reduction in learner and lecturer contact hours within an NZSL interpreting programme would compromise graduate NZSL competency, necessitating a compensatory approach predominantly in the context of the Deaf community. Secondly, the study attempts to address a marked gap in research related to L2 sign language learning from a socio-cultural perspective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in a bilingual context (NZSL and English) in order to gain the ‘inside’ perspectives of six NZSL learners who had just completed a two-year Diploma in Sign Language Interpreting. The interviews sought to uncover the informal NZSL language learning opportunities used by the participants, especially within the social context of the Deaf community, and the individual learner strategies utilised by ‘good learners’ of NZSL. Interview data were transcribed and were analysed by employing qualitative methods. Coding of the data revealed a number of categories which were subsequently examined for salient themes relating to the research questions. The main findings of the study revolved around the significance of L2 learner access to social and material resources, especially within the Deaf socio-cultural context. Of particular significance was the enhancement of learner motivation and confidence as was the frequency and depth of interaction with Deaf people and degree of mediated NZSL learning from NZSL mentors. Of key importance were the social relationships and networks developed with L1 users, which facilitated access to an array of NZSL learning opportunities. Material language learning resources, such as NZSL video samples and equipment were also useful, when interaction with Deaf people was not possible due to heavy study demands, especially in the second year of the programme. Learner involvement in the Deaf community, particularly within Deaf social networks, resulted in significantly improved linguistic, pragmatic and socio-cultural competency. The findings of the study raise two main implications. Firstly, the study highlights the need for NZSL interpreting curriculum enrichment and the resourcing of the programme to foster learner autonomy. Secondly, to date there has been little research on adult L2 sign language learning outside the classroom context and the study may stimulate further studies of the acquisition of sign language as a second language. The study may also be of benefit to autonomous L2 sign language learners and stakeholders in sign language interpreting education around the world.

This study investigates the effectiveness of creative writing instruction (CW) in classrooms where English as a second language (ESL) is taught. The study aims to determine under what circumstances CW can help learners grow in terms of autonomous learning (AL) and motivation. These benefits stretch beyond formal language acquisition into more personal, socio-cultural, and psychological domains that lead to self-empowerment. AL and motivation are central constructs in the Swedish steering documents. By contrast, creative writing in second-language English (CW L2) does not feature heavily in the steering documents. Given the absence of specific studies, the role of CW L2 in Swedish schools is difficult to estimate and potentially quite limited. Against that background, this study asks under what conditions AL and motivation result from CW L2. It does so by selecting ten articles relevant to the research question and synthesizing thematically two by two. This has allowed us to identify and analyze five essential aspects of CW in L2: first, that pupil surveys widely report positive effects from CW L2 on motivation but that this may not always extend into other areas, notably attitudes toward learning English; second, that instructors can specifically design CW L2 to boost motivation; third, that there appear to be set cognitive patterns as AL is built up through CW L2; fourth, that CW L2 can be readily combined with other modes of output; and finally that teachers can adjust CW to generate motivation in unmotivated learners.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / One of the main educational discourses in the era of globalization is lifelong learning. Self-regulated learning and learner autonomy are considered to be cornerstones of lifelong learning and are currently topics of main discussion and interest in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages in Colombia and other countries around the world. Although previous research has suggested different teaching alternatives to promote self-regulated learning (SRL) in English instruction in Colombia, what actually happens in the classroom and its impact on the development of SRL have received little attention. This study aimed to identify what Colombian university English instructors know about language teaching methods, approaches, principles, and strategies to promote SRL and to understand to what extent their teaching practices help to promote SRL. Using a survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews, this study was developed based on a mixed-methods approach to understand how the processes involved in SRL, as proposed by Zimmerman (2002), are promoted implicitly or explicitly in the university English classroom. Consistently, most university English instructors are not familiar with the construct of SRL, and their teaching practices mainly focus on teaching, evaluating, and giving feedback on language use and task completion, but not on the processes involved in SRL. Nevertheless, SRL-related aspects, such as learner motivation and the learning of strategies, are part of some instructors' teaching agendas. It is suggested, among others, that university English course programs should incorporate SRL education initiatives such as pre-academic courses on SRL, as well as on how successful language learning takes place. This is to help learners be more prepared for successful and lifelong learning, not only in the English classroom, but beyond.