Leaders of the 84th Texas Legislature drafted and ratified HB 1164 (2015), prompting the Texas Education Agency to pilot a portfolio assessment option for assessing student writing growth and proficiency. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions, characterize the experiences, and identify the forces that influenced initial implementation of the statewide writing pilot. Through interviews with district leaders and the collection of open-ended questionnaires from participating educators, a collective case study method was conducted and allowed for analysis of cross-case themes. The identification of restraining and driving forces affecting implementation of the statewide pilot program provided insight into considerations for next steps in the evaluation of student writing achievement and growth. Three primary perceptions emerged as restraining forces influencing implementation: influences of inadequate funding, inconsistencies of implementation, and navigation of multiple assessment systems. Six primary themes related to driving forces influencing implementation were identified: using sociocultural and authentic methods, engaging in reflective practices, increasing volume and variety of writing opportunities, assessing student growth, aligning methods of instruction and assessment, and reducing stress for students. Effective professional development, dependent upon funding and staffing allocations; two-way channels of communication for participant reflection and feedback; and effective assessment structures must be aligned with the purpose and goals of a student-centered assessment system, which requires collaborative conversations between policy makers, state-level decision makers, and educators.

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Becoming literate isn't something that happens in a single year, classroom, or experience. Drawing on case studies of ten children's writing practices across the years from grade one to middle and high school, this study examines literacy development from the perspective of the learner: as a stream of experiences unfolding across time and space. Rather than limiting the conceptual frame to notions of 'school literacy' as a function of 'home literacy', the researcher examines how children learn to write by and through participation in multiple 'communities' or 'cultures' of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Brown et al., 1988). The research aim is to build an understanding of how learning takes place through long-term encounters with multiple communities whose boundaries and composition can be at times fluid and permeable. Using life history methods (Gergen, 1988; Gluck & Patai, 1991; McCall & Wittner, 1990), collective memory work (Haug, 1987), collaborative writing sample analysis (Taylor, 1990; Atwell, 1987; Tierney et al., 1991), and 'side-by-side' assessment (Atwell, 1987) the researcher engaged student writers in a five-year series of 'power sensitive conversations' (Haraway, 1988). Acting as 'legitimate peripheral participant' (Lave & Wenger, 1991) the researcher entered the students' multiple worlds of literate practice through participant observation in significant literacy events (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983), open-ended interviews (Briggs, 1986) with concerned others, and collaborative analysis of institutional documentation available in school records (Potter & Wetherell, 1987). Drawing on these 'biographic literacy profiles' (Taylor, 1990) participants traced their trajectories through the multiple communities of practice that shaped them as literate persons over extended periods of time. Moving from an activist stance (Fine, 1992), researcher and participants collaboratively constructed narratives of literacy-learning aimed not to 'freeze' their findings, but to move them beyond the text as agents of possible futures (Fine, 1992). Research of this nature re-politicizes writing and literacy pedagogy in terms of the socio-cultural contexts that both enable and constrain student writers. Its implications extend beyond writing instruction into research, theory-building, curriculum redesign, literacy assessment, teacher training, and community resource planning and policy-making. / Ph. D.

This study explores Cummins' interdependence hypothesis in the South African context. The design is experimental, involving Zulu primary language writing instruction to explore whether skills taught in Zulu composition classes transfer into English expository writing. The intervention and control groups were drawn from two ex-Model C high schools and the focus was on measuring use of coherence and cohesion in English essays. Quantitative findings showed, although the intervention group's writing skills did not improve significantly, they did not decline. By contrast, the control group's writing skills declined significantly. A more qualitative investigation of the corpus supports the statistical findings. However, because of the limitations of this study, more research is required into Cummins' hypothesis, bilingual programmes and teaching academic writing skills in African languages. It is hoped that this research design will benefit future researchers investigate the current debate about the efficacy of bilingual and multilingual approaches to education. / Linguistics / M. A. (Applied Linguistics)

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

鄧薇先. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2001. / 參考文獻 (p. 215-236) / 中英文摘要. / Available also through the Internet via Dissertations & theses @ Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Deng Weixian. / Lun wen (Zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2001. / Can kao wen xian (p. 215-236) / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao.

This thesis sheds light on (1) the extent to which composition has fallen short in its efforts to examine Habermasian discourse in the public sphere/politicized classroom; and (2) whether, through a careful and explicit exploration of the Habermas/Foucault debate and the competing concepts of discourse contained therein, we might make use of those concepts in the politicized classroom to inform student writing in the public sphere.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

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

This study explores Cummins' interdependence hypothesis in the South African context. The design is experimental, involving Zulu primary language writing instruction to explore whether skills taught in Zulu composition classes transfer into English expository writing. The intervention and control groups were drawn from two ex-Model C high schools and the focus was on measuring use of coherence and cohesion in English essays. Quantitative findings showed, although the intervention group's writing skills did not improve significantly, they did not decline. By contrast, the control group's writing skills declined significantly. A more qualitative investigation of the corpus supports the statistical findings. However, because of the limitations of this study, more research is required into Cummins' hypothesis, bilingual programmes and teaching academic writing skills in African languages. It is hoped that this research design will benefit future researchers investigate the current debate about the efficacy of bilingual and multilingual approaches to education. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M. A. (Applied Linguistics)