Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Education." Includes bibliographical references (p. 206-213).

Abstract The purpose of this study was to ascertain to what extent English teachers at the upper secondary level in Sweden use postcolonial literature in their teaching and in that case if it is used in order to teach intercultural competence. The reason for this was the claim that there is a strong connection between postcolonial literature and intercultural competence as well as between postcolonial literature and the curriculum for the upper secondary school, and specifically the English courses. The primary material used was gathered through interviews involving teachers working at an upper secondary school in the southern part of Kronobergs Län. Three out of five interviewees did use postcolonial literature and the main reason was that it provides a platform for students to learn about different cultures and societies in areas in the world where English is used. It also turned out that certain authors were used more frequently than others, namely J.M. Coetzee, Chinua Achebe and Doris Lessing. The theoretical basis for this essay has been the notion of intercultural competence, especially linked with language teaching. Developing intercultural competence provides students with the possibility of gaining increased understanding of different cultures, something that seems to be immensely important in a Swedish school system where the classrooms are becoming more and more multicultural. It is argued here that postcolonial literature lends itself particularly well when it comes to the combination of language- and culture didactics and teachers’ responses in the interviews have given reason to believe that this is in fact so.

The research questions of this study explore, first, the general patterns of Internet access and engagement among Korean immigrant adolescents, and second, the relationships between the adolescents’ culture-specific online activities and their (a) Korean cultural orientation, (b) American cultural orientation, and (c) bicultural competence. The separate examinations of Korean and American cultural orientations and the consideration of bicultural competence are based on the bicultural model to immigrant’s cross-cultural adjustment, which asserts that cultural orientations to the host and home countries develop and operate independently. Both types of cultural orientation are considered to be multidimensional, involving five distinct processes: cultural identity, knowledge of cultural values and norms, knowledge of popular culture, language proficiency, and cultural social support. Finally, a number of different culture-specific online activities—i.e., email, social networking, entertainment media, and information seeking activities performed on both Korean-language and English-language websites—are considered based on the assumption that different activities will engage different types and levels of cultural orientations and bicultural competence. The research questions are addressed by analyses of data collected through a quantitative survey of 168 Korean immigrant teenagers residing in Texas. The findings of this study demonstrate that these young Korean immigrants are privileged and active users of the Internet. Their online engagement is influenced by common youth-oriented interests as well as by their cultural orientations toward Korean and American cultures. Specifically, different types of culture-specific online activities invoke different aspects of the adolescents’ Korean and American orientations. In particular, the multiple dimensions of American (vs. Korean) orientation are more commonly associated with culture-specific online activities in general, negatively predicting Korean-website activities while positively predicting English-website activities. Of the multiple dimensions, knowledge of popular culture is most commonly associated with culture-specific online activities, while language proficiency is least associated. Further, levels of engagement with culture-specific online activities differ across groups of differing levels of bicultural competence. Particularly, individuals who are biculturally competent across multiple cultural orientation dimensions experience more engaged and diverse online experiences within English-language websites. This study offers theoretical and methodological implications for research on youth and online media and research on immigrants’ cross-cultural adjustment. / text

As the population of the United States becomes more diverse, it is important that research be done to inform the implementation of psychological services that meet the needs of a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Research suggests that minority and low-SES clients with mental health disorders are underserved and receive inferior care when they do receive treatment. Although a large body of theory on multicultural counseling competence (MCC) has been developed over the last 30 years, little empirical research has been done in this area. This research proposal reviews the current research and theory and proposes the development and norming of a consumer measure of MCC. / text

Children and adolescents with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities (NVLD) commonly experience severe social and academic difficulties. Youth with NVLD lack social competence. They display poor social perception and find it challenging to appropriately attend to the facial expressions, prosody, and body language of others. Children with NVLD are often unable to accurately interpret social exchanges. Subsequently, they have trouble determining which behaviors to enact and tend to respond to social situations with inappropriate or atypical behaviors. As a result, they are repeatedly isolated, neglected, and ostracized by their peers (Little, 1993). These negative experiences correspond with elevated levels of anxiety, depression, and suicide attempts (Fletcher, 1989; Rourke, Young & Leenars, 1989). This study sought to gain a greater understanding of how youth with NVLD process social information as their poor performance in this area increases the likelihood that they will experience detrimental life outcomes. This study examined the perspectives of children with NVLD and the perspectives of their primary caretakers and teachers. Participants consisted of 12 children with NVLD between the ages nine and 13. A parent and teacher of each child also participated. Data was collected via interviews, observations, and field notes. Grounded theory methodology was used to analyze data for significant themes and trends. Data analysis generated rich theory regarding how children with NVLD understand social interactions and nonverbal communication. Key traits of those with NVLD are detailed and findings indicate that communication across parties promotes social development. / text

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not risk and protective factors (socioeconomic status, social connectedness, negative reactivity temperament, approach/withdrawal temperament, social acceptance competence, behavioral conduct competence, and global self-worth) measured in middle childhood would statistically predict the prevalence of suicide-related ideations and behaviors in high school. This study highlights the importance of examining a population of this age range prior to entering a critical developmental stage, shown to be at increase the risk for suicide. Due to the growing rates of suicide in adolescence, the objective is for this population to be regarded as a main target of future suicide prevention and intervention techniques. As such, the current study examined specific risk and protective factors in middle childhood with the goal to help identify a profile for adolescents in high school at risk for future suicide-related ideations and behaviors or to determine those who have developed protection against this health-risk behavior. The sample for this study was taken from two larger longitudinal studies with student participants from three rural school districts of central Texas. The data were analyzed using binary logistic and multiple linear regression analysis. While the findings of this study revealed statistically significant relationships between three out of the seven predictive variables (self-connectedness, global self-worth, and behavioral conduct competence), the results were not robust. Given the minimal significance of these exploratory findings, further analysis is suggested before development of intervention programs is warranted. / text

Trauma is ubiquitous (Beck & Sloan, 2012: Brown et al, 2011; Solomon & Johnson, 2002). Beck and Sloan (2012) reported that the vast majority of United States residents have experienced one or more posttraumatic stress disorder-level events as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (5th ed). Additionally, the persistent negative physical and psychological consequences of traumatic stress is a growing public health concern (Lupien, Mc Ewen, Gunnar & Heim, 2009). Nonetheless, there remains a paucity of training about posttraumatic stress in graduate counselor education programs (Courtois & Gold, 2009; Layne et al, 2014; Litz & Salters-Pedneault, 2008; Logeran et al, 2004). Since counselors working in a variety of mental health settings will likely be working with survivors of trauma, it is imperative that their training include foundational trauma knowledge and trauma-competent clinical skills (Layne et al, 2014). Standardized trauma-based curriculum to inform the education of professional counselors have yet to be integrated into graduate training despite the fact that researchers report high trauma-exposure rates among United States residents (Courtois, 2009). Further, trauma counseling competencies to inform the education of trauma counselors have yet to be identified (Layne et al, 2014; Mattar, 2010; Turkus, 2013). This study addressed these gaps in the literature using Qualitative Content Analysis (Schreier, 2012) to examine the experiences of thirty-nine trauma-competent mental health professionals. Participants with advanced counseling skill who scored in level 3 or 3i on the Supervisee Levels Questionnaire-Revised (McNeill, Stoltenberg, & Romans, 1992) were included in the data analysis. Authors developed trauma competencies, including intervention objectives and practice elements (Layne et al, 2014), based on the derived categories and subcategories emerging from the data. These trauma competencies are consistent with the Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma training tool (Layne et al, 2014) as well as the New Haven Trauma Competencies (Cook & Newman, 2014) and include trauma-informed attitudes and beliefs, knowledge and skills essential to trauma competency. INDEX WORDS: Stress disorders, Competencies, Professional competence, Professional training

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία εκπονήθηκε στα πλαίσια του Μεταπτυχιακού Προγράμματος Σπουδών του Παιδαγωγικού Τμήματος Δημοτικής Εκπαίδευσης του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών και έθεσε ως κεντρικό ζήτημα τη διερεύνηση της ικανότητας που διαθέτουν οι υποψήφιοι μελλοντικοί εκπαιδευτικοί της πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης, ως προς τη χρήση των αναπαραστάσεων και ειδικότερα τη χρήση των αναπαραστάσεων στην επίλυση προβλημάτων με κλάσματα. / This paper has been prepared within the Graduate Program of the Department of Education of the University of Patras and has os main issue to investigate the representational competence of pre-service teachers, and particularly the use of representations to solve problems with fractions.

This graduation thesis for master degree is intended to research on kinder garden teacher competence using M. Montessori method for children’s with disabilities development. The research subject is quite new and relevant. There are not many studies on such subject. There were made the following similar studies on kinder garden teacher’s professional competence by E. Jurošaitė (doctor’s degree dissertation), J. Navaitienė (“Būsimųjų pedagogų profesinis kryptingumas ir branda”), T. Tamošiūnas (“Profesinio ir ikiprofesinio pedagogų rengimo sąveika”) in Lithuania. The high competence teachers are one of the most important factor for successful pre-school system functioning. It is very important to describe this conception. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze, compare and to find competence of the kinder garden teachers that develop children’s with disabilities using M. Montessori teaching method. The M. Montessori was applied for children’s with disabilities at the beginning. Then after successful experience the same method was applied children’s without disabilities. After literature research it could be affirm that such subject was not studied in Lithuania. M. Montessori method is widely used in foreign countries for development of children’s with disabilities. Purpose of graduation thesis: To evaluate kinder garden teachers competence to develop children’s with disabilities. Hypothesis: Kinder garden teachers have high competence to develop children’s with... [to full text]