Socioscientific issues, SSI, can briefly be described as societal issues in which science plays a role. Dealing with SSI in science education is a means to prepare and empower students for active and responsible participation in a complex, democratic society. The implementation of SSI-based teaching calls for classroom practices in which scientific evidence alongside for example social and ethical perspectives are considered. Discourse-based teaching activities are emphasized as a means to provide opportunities for students to practice negotiations of SSI and explore diverse viewpoints on the issues. Dealing with SSI in science teaching is recognized as a challenging task for science teachers. This thesis aims to provide knowledge to support the implementation of SSI-based science teaching. Three studies involving two upper secondary school science teachers are performed to achieve this aim. The first study makes use of video-stimulated discussions to investigate the two teachers’reflections on their classroom practices while they implement SSI throughout an academic year. The second study utilizes the concept positioning as a tool to identify and describe the ways in which one teacher’s interactions with students during group work make available different parts for the students to play as participants, when dealing with SSI in the classroom. The third study makes use of the concept communicative approach to investigate how the two teachers’ management of classroom discussions sets conditions for the consideration of multiple perspectives relevant to SSI, including the students’ viewpoints. The results provide knowledge useful when making considerations about the design and enactment of teaching activities in relation to specific educational goals. The results suggest that a specific challenge with designing and enacting SSI-based teaching activities is to balance between controlling and directing the teaching activities to promote specific learning goals and providing space for students’ participation and perspectives. The results of employing the analytical tools elucidate how this challenge can play out in classroom practice and contribute with knowledge of the ways in which teachers’ discursive practices play a role in addressing this challenge. Strategies to support teachers’ implementation of SSI-based teaching that take account of teachers’ existing practices are discussed.

School-based intervention in a post-colonial context forms part of a transformational process to address equity and the right to quality education. Interventions have had limited effect reducing the disparity between the haves and the have-nots, thereby perpetuating the cycle of intergenerational poverty and inequality. Quality Talk, a classroom discourse intervention, was used as a case study to explore the broader issues of school-based intervention. Using a mixed-methods integrated design the data collected was used to identify potential enablers and constraints of school-based intervention research in a rural context. Building on active intervention implementation models in health and education research I propose an integrated approach to school-based intervention that focuses on a multilevel process of implementation. The implementation process emphasises the interrelationship between the intervention, participants, and context. The role of researcher, as an active ingredient of implementation, is to assess and align the intervention within its contextual setting with the participants as they reflect on the intervention implementation process. The implementation of the intervention is linked to developing a multilevel support system focusing on professional development, leadership, and perceptions and attitudes towards the intervention. Together these factors aim at facilitating the transitioning of school and individual readiness to intervention implementation thereby developing teacher competence in providing quality education to students in the classroom. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Educational Psychology / PhD / Unrestricted

Research on learning to teach mathematics reveals that mathematics teaching is a complex process (Lerman, 2000) and classroom teaching and learning is a “multifaceted, extraordinarily complex phenomenon” (O’Connor, 1998, p. 43). Moreover, research reveals that the mathematics reform agenda has had an impact on what happens in the mathematics classroom, however, the impact has been superficial (Kazemi & Stipek, 2001) with teachers often retaining their pre-reform habits and attitudes in regards to mathematics teaching and learning (O’Connor, 1998). This study examined the reform discourse practices that three novice teachers, who had been enrolled in a reform based methods course during their preservice teacher education program, adopted, adapted, or ignored as they attempted to engage students in mathematical conversations. Data sources included interviews, field notes, artifacts, and transcripts of videotaped classroom lessons. The primary research questions guiding this study included: 1) What reformoriented discourses practices do novice teachers, who participated in a reform-based mathematics methods course adopt? What practices do they adapt? What practices do they ignore as they engage students in mathematics conversations? and 2) What issues and challenges surface as novice teachers begin to enact reform-oriented discourse practices? Results indicated that despite holding beliefs that reflect the basic tenets of mathematics reform, theses novice teachers represent a continuum of practices ranging from traditional to reform. Evidence suggests that adopting the reform-oriented practice of eliciting different solutions was critical in the development of social norms that reflect mathematics reform. Eliciting different solutions served to focus classroom conversations on meaningful student generated explanations and justifications. Moreover, evidence suggests that enacting the practice of eliciting different solutions was instrumental in enacting other reform-orientated practices associated with the development of reformoriented socialmathematical norms. Lastly, results indicate that the pressures of teaching in an underperforming school, as defined by state standardized high stakes tests, can impact a novice teacher’s ability and willingness to adopt mathematics reform practices.

In this dissertation literature discussions which include students of Vehicle Engineering at a Swedish upper secondary school will be discussed. The students are all boys. The study is focused on these boys’ small-group literature discussions, and the aim of the study is to describe what happens when they discuss four of the novels that form an integral part in the context of their Swedish studies. Principal fields of interest are the readings and the reception that the boys give utterance to in the literature discussions, as well as the identity-constructing processes which set in when they interact in the light of what they have read. The empirical material consists of eleven video recorded small-group discussions, and a conversational analytic perspective is combined with a reception theory perspective in the dissertation. The study shows that a sense of community is vital to the core of the boys’ literature discussions, and this has an influence on the reception and the readings that come up in the discussions. The boys are anxious to come to an agreement and voices which threaten to shatter the sense of community that has been constructed in the discussions are opposed in different ways. The literature discussions are not only arenas where the boys construct themselves as readers but are also considered as a forum where various identity-constructing practices take place. As readers these boys are bound to what can be read, and what cannot be read, in literary texts, but it is possible to see a certain development in their readings towards a more complex attitude, such as they find expression in the discussions. The boys also carry out the literature discussions, and the constructed sense of community is based on the reading of the novel to be discussed in a small-group discussion. Thus the boys take on the responsibility for their own learning as well. Many of the processes in which the boys are involved during the literature discussions could be described as processes of social reproduction, but various dividing lines which could be identified in the study also show that there are openings for other directions of the discussions.

This is a qualitative research that draws Gee‟s Discourse analysis to understand how learners communicate their mathematical reasoning in a multilingual classroom in South Africa. The study involved a Grade 11 class of 25 learners in a township school East of Johannesburg. The research method used was a case study. Data was collected using classroom observations, and document analysis. The study has shown that learners communicate their mathematics reasoning up to a certain level. The way learners communicated their mathematical reasoning depended on the activities that were given by the textbook being used in the classroom, and the questions which the teacher asked during the lessons. From the findings of the study, recommendations were made: the assessment of how learners communicate their mathematical reasoning should have a basis, say the curriculum. If the curriculum states the level of mathematical reasoning which the learners at Grade 11 must reach, then the teacher will have to probe the learners for higher reasoning; mathematics classroom textbooks should be designed to enable learners communicate their mathematical reasoning. The teacher should ask learners questions that require learners to communicate their mathematical reasoning.

This dissertation is a qualitative case study exploring the process of culture learning in a Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) classroom. Guided by a socioculturally based theoretical perspective and adopting the stance of the National Standards, which says that language students "cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs" (1996, p. 27), this study describes how culture learning is tied to class practices aimed at developing students' language proficiency by exploring how culture and language are integrated in spoken discourse and interactions in the classroom. The research questions of the study focus on both the instructor's and the students' perspectives towards the interrelationship between language learning and culture learning and their actual practices in the dynamic, complex, and emerging speech community of classroom contexts. Through analysis of student questionnaires, classroom observations, instructor interview, and stimulated-recall sessions with students, this study examines the contexts of culture learning, illustrates how language classroom contexts shape and are shaped by all the class members, including both the instructor and the students, and describes how the classroom spoken discourse in the current advanced-level undergraduate CFL course provides opportunities for culture learning and how culture learning actually happens in this language classroom. The findings suggest that as the instructor and the students interact in the language classroom, it is not so much the particular pieces of cultural and linguistic information under discussion that delineate the actual culture learning process, but rather the active exchanges and sometimes disagreements between the instructor and the students that provide opportunities for interactive cultural dialogues and discussions. In other words, cultural knowledge and understanding are situated in actual contexts of language use. Language learning is also embedded in the same interactive and collaborative discussion of texts. By exploring the complexity of the culture learning process in the language classroom setting, this study adds theoretical and pedagogical support to the premise that culture learning should be an integral part of language instruction at different levels throughout the language curriculum.

當母語者與非母語者在進行溝通時，母語者通常會使用較為簡化的語言形式，此種語言形式研究者稱之為「調整語」。本文旨在探討在台灣的成人美語教室中，外籍教師針對不同程度的學生，使用調整語的情形，文中主要從「句法」與「言談功能」兩個角度分析外籍教師的語言使用。 有三位教授中、高級美語會話的外籍教師參與本研究，每位教師於不同層級的課堂各接受兩次錄音，總計收集到18小時的錄音語料，351頁的逐字稿，全數經過分析比較後，主要發現如下： (1) 外籍教師之語言平均句長並未隨著學生程度越高而有顯著增加。外籍教師在中級教室之平均句長為8.197，在高級教室為8.388，p>0.05。此結果顯示，當學生程度到達中級以上，「句長上的調整」似乎不再是外籍教師採用的調整方式。 (2) 外籍教師之語法正確率在兩個層級都非常高。外籍教師在中級教室之語法正確率為99.81%，在高級教室為99.79%，在兩個層級都僅有10個錯誤句子，透過錯誤類型分析，發現中級教室中出現較多句法層面上的錯誤，而篇章層面的錯誤則全出現在高級教室中。 (3) 外籍教師之言談功能會隨學生層級不同而有調整。外籍教師在中級教室中給予較多主動的語言輸入、提供較多的發問，主要功能為傳輸語言知識；在高級教室中，教師減低發言的比例，使用較多的回饋功能。 綜合以上研究結果發現，英語為母語之外籍教師在上課時面臨不同語言程度的非母語對話者有不同的語言調整方式，在中、高級程度的班級上，「句法上的調整」不再是外籍教師的主要考量，而轉向採用「語言功能上的調整」，在教學應用上，儘管隨著學生層級的增加，外籍教師減少了「主動語言輸入」功能，而採用較多的「語言回饋」功能，但整體而言，學生發言的比例仍然偏低（中級教室9.93%；高級教室12.15%），教師應給予學生更多的口語練習機會，採用更多的回饋機制，以增加學生之溝通能力。 / When addressing to non-native speaker, native speakers will modify his speech to what he thinks is simpler and easier for the non-native listener to comprehend. Such simplified register is referred to as “Foreigner Talk.” The present study aims to explore both the syntactic and discourse characteristics of FT in Taiwan’s adult English classrooms. Three measurements (1) syntactic complexity (2) grammaticality and (3) discourse functions are adopted to investigate if the interlocutor’s language proficiency affects the foreigner teacher’s language use. The data were collected from 18-hour recording of three English native speakers’ utterances in intermediate and advanced classrooms. The major findings of this study are summarized as follows: (1) In terms of syntactic complexity, the mean words per t-unit at both levels are very similar with 8.197 at the intermediate level, and 8.388 at the advanced level. The result of t-test (p>0.05) also indicates that no significant difference is found concerning the language complexity between the two levels. It is suggested that the adjustment of language complexity may only resort to students with lower proficiency. Once the student’s proficiency goes beyond a specific level, the length of teacher’s utterances will keep in a fixed range. (2) In terms of grammaticality, over 99.79% of the foreigners’ utterances are grammatical sentences in both language classrooms, showing that the foreigners’ language form is quite accurate. By analyzing the 20 ungrammatical utterances, it reveals that the foreigner teachers are more likely to utilize the syntactic adjustment for the lower level learners and conserve the discourse adjustment for the more advanced ones. (3) In terms of discourse functions, Sinclair and Coulthard’s model (1992) is modified to categorize the functions of the foreigners’ utterances. It is found that the distribution of the functions varies with the development of the students’ language ability. The foreigner teachers use significantly more initiation functions to the intermediate students and provide much more responsive functions for the advanced students. Based on the findings of this study, some pedagogical implications are addressed. It is suggested that teachers should pay more attention to their language use and consider if their adjustments of language really enhance language learning. In order to increase the learning potential, teachers are recommended to employ more judicious silence, to reduce the percentage of teacher-initiated utterances and to resist the temptation to interrupt. Also, teachers should realize that they are not only an instructor but also an interlocutor for their students at the same time. By realizing the dual roles as being a language teacher, the teacher can make language class less artificial and help learners to overcome the gap between communication in and outside the classroom.

This project is aimed at generating new knowledge and improving our understanding of how Modified for Language Support-Worked Example Pairs (MLS-WEPs) contribute to effective mathematics learning and teaching in an ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) context. The current study investigated a novel instructional approach to help English Language Learners (ELLs) develop better understanding in mathematical reasoning, problem solving, and literacy skills (listening, reading, writing, and speaking) while they are still developing their English language proficiency. The current study followed a wait-list control design, with both the treatment and control groups receiving intervention materials. The intervention materials were administered multiple times with different topics (units) throughout the study. The lessons were audio-recorded when the selected topics were taught. Pretest and posttest were given each time when the selected topics were taught. The data analysis for this study included both qualitative and quantitative analyses. The present study revealed the following results: (1) MLS-WEPs not only enhanced ELLs’ ability to solve mathematical problems, but also improved their written explanation skills and enabled them to transfer such skills to different mathematical concepts; (2) when controlling ELLs’ prior knowledge, the effectiveness of the MLS-WEPs intervention did not vary by their English language proficiency; (3) the MLS-WEPs intervention materials facilitated teachers to provide ELLs with more opportunities to read, write, and speak in mathematics and enabled teachers to ask more and deeper questions. However, worked example comparisons did not appear to motivate the participant teachers to promote equitable participation in mathematics classrooms. These findings provide direct empirical support for the need to reform mathematics teaching and learning in the ESOL context. / Math & Science Education

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This thesis investigates how various text-talks, i.e. text-focused classroom discussions, may scaffold students’ reading of specialised texts in upper secondary school. The study consists of qualitative case studies based on classroom observations of two teachers’ History instruction, focusing on parts defined as text-talks. An intervention study was conducted where one teacher worked with two text-talk approaches. The research questions regard how students move in relation to the text in the text-talks and how text content is incorporated, what scaffolding structures emerge, and whether and how the text-talks differ. A secondary aim is to generate theories concerning the potentials and limitations of text-talk as a reading scaffold. Analyses were done in terms of text movability to show reading positions, intertextual cohesion to show relations between source text and text-talk, and scaffolding which includes peer scaffolding, teacher scaffolding and the text-talks as a scaffold per se. A methodological contribution is the development of a model for content-based analyses of authentic text-talks. The results show that in text-talks that work as a scaffold, students take the expected positions toward the text, and the talks are clearly related to the source text, by means of lexical and conjunctive cohesion that is often varied and built-out. For more demanding texts, the students show dynamic text movability and move between exploring contents, subject field and context. Other characteristics are either peer scaffolding showing dialogicity and negotiation of meaning, or teacher scaffolding enabling students to progress and develop tools for text reception. The intervention approaches seem to scaffold reading to a greater extent than text-talks within ordinary instruction where the framing is weak. In conclusion, the results suggest that both student- and teacher-led text-talks may scaffold reading, but they need to be well planned and prepared with a structured framing.