Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 115-122).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-122). Also available in print.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Göteborg : Univ. , 2010. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

To date, adult educational research has had a limited focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) adults and the learning processes in which they engage across the life course. Adopting a biographical and life history methodology, this study aimed to critically explore the potentially distinctive nature and impact of how, when and where LGBT adults learn to construct their identities over their lives. In-depth, semi-structured interviews, dialogue and discussion with LGBT individuals and groups provided rich narratives that reflect shifting, diverse and multiple ways of identifying and living as LGBT. Participants engage in learning in unique ways that play a significant role in the construction and expression of such identities, that in turn influence how, when and where learning happens. Framed largely by complex heteronormative forces, learning can have a negative, distortive impact that deeply troubles any balanced, positive sense of being LGBT, leading to self- censoring, alienation and in some cases, hopelessness. However, learning is also more positively experiential, critically reflective, inventive and queer in nature. This can transform how participants understand their sexual identities and the lifewide spaces in which they learn, engendering agency and resilience. Intersectional perspectives reveal learning that participants struggle with, but can reconcile the disjuncture between evolving LGBT and other myriad identities as parents, Christians, teachers, nurses, academics, activists and retirees. The study’s main contributions lie in three areas. A focus on LGBT experience can contribute to the creation of new opportunities to develop intergenerational learning processes. The study also extends the possibilities for greater criticality in older adult education theory, research and practice, based on the continued, rich learning in which participants engage post-work and in later life. Combined with this, there is scope to further explore the nature of ‘life-deep learning’ for other societal groups, brought by combined religious, moral, ideological and social learning that guides action, beliefs, values, and expression of identity. The LGBT adults in this study demonstrate engagement in distinct forms of life-deep learning to navigate social and moral opprobrium. From this they gain hope, self-respect, empathy with others, and deeper self-knowledge.

The Life Assurance industry has been through a period of rapid change as a consequence of increased competition, which is resulting in the need for structural re-organisation. The mid-career manager is arguably the most affected by these changes as the flattening structures and the need for obtaining new skills are leading to a re-appraisal of their role, while also diminishing their chances of the vertical progression that was traditionally on offer. It is against this background that an analysis of the barriers to participation in learning was undertaken through in-depth interviews with 61 managers from five of the largest Scottish Life Assurance institutions. A grounded model was developed to identify the prevalence of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting participation levels. The model identified five intrinsic variables (Perceptual, Emotional, Motivational, Cognitive (General) and Cognitive (Vocational)) and three extrinsic factors (Culture, Management Development Culture and Physical Resources) and the managers were categorised against these variables according to their propensity to participate in learning initiatives. While the intrinsic barriers relating to managers perceived need for learning and emotional insecurities were important, the managers appeared to primarily attribute their levels of participation to the presence or otherwise of extrinsic variables. In particular, the organisational culture was seen to be crucial in influencing participation levels, as there were high levels of negativity surrounding the support and guidance structures for learning. The ambiguity of reward strategies was also seen to be an inhibitor, as were time pressures. Organisations need to address the issue of balancing participation in learning activities with the pressures originating from both mid-career managers private and professional lives as a potential solution to these external pressures. It was suggested that barriers to learning could be alleviated through better support and guidance and the development of a learning culture, encompassing top management involvement.

This thesis develops a cognitively grounded framework which operationalises the concept of intertextuality, facilitating linguistic analysis of the role it can play in readers’ responses to, interpretations of, and discussions about, texts. The thesis demonstrates the application of this ‘narrative interrelation framework’ in two contexts: the adult reading group and the secondary school English classroom. In doing so, the thesis reflects on the forms, functions and utility of intertextual booktalk, and explores why intertextuality may manifest differently in different environments. The research symbiotically unites the fields of education research and cognitive linguistics, advancing our understanding of reading and studying fiction in secondary schools in England. The thesis aims in particular to contribute to our understanding of the use of the ‘class reader’ - reading a set text as a group - which remains the most prevalent model of reading fiction with students, both in England and internationally. Class reader units are explored along two key dimensions: conceptualising students and teachers as readers, and considering the classroom as a type of reading space. The first part of this research focuses on understanding and mapping cognition processes which underlie intertextuality, both in terms of how readers make intertextual links between stories as well how they process, understand and engage with the intertextual references they encounter. The second part of this research considers the classroom environment in contrast to another site where readers gather to discuss a text: the reading group. A contrastive analysis of these two environments looks to understand the nature of the reading experience in the classroom and, in particular, how it affects the links students make between stories. A final part of the thesis will reflect on the aspects of reading and booktalk which are facilitated or inhibited in different discourse environments. Ultimately, the thesis characterises the nature of the ‘class reader’ experience and considers the implications this has for pedagogy, for engagement and for our understanding of what class readers are intended to, and what they do, achieve as a core staple of the English curriculum. The research examines two datasets representing two distinct types of reading experience of the same two novels: Holes by Louis Sachar (1999) and Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945). The first is a 320,000 word corpus of English lesson transcripts comprising two complete ‘class reader’ schemes of work: a Year 7 mixed ability group studying Holes and a Year 9 top set group studying Animal Farm. The second 40,000 word corpus captures two sessions of an adult reading group, made up predominantly of English graduates, meeting to discuss the same two texts.

Informal language learning among adults is a key aspect of wider 21 si century processes of globalization and migration (Norton 2000, Pavlenko and Blackledge 2001). This thesis reports an ethnographic case study of six adult female learners of English as a second language (L2) from different linguistic backgrounds, who have been living continuously in a southern English city for two years on average. The motivation for the study is to explore how gender, identity and social context interrelate and influence the second language learning (SLL) process. The investigation is grounded in a combination of poststructuralist theory and activity theory, with addition of two social psychological theories. Norton's (2000) concept of 'investment' is fundamental, specifically: a) for its application of some of Bourdieu's (1977) concepts to SLL; b) for its inclusion of the L2 learner's feelings and perceptions. From a methodological perspective, Engestrom's (1999) 'activity systems triangle' has been used to identify investment in SLL through activity (i .e. what the learner is doing to achieve her SLL goals and using which artifacts), as well as the social networks and relationships in which the learner is involved. Social psychological theories of identity hierarchisation have been used to further explore the relationship between identity and investment (Turner and Stets 2005) Data collection lasted nine months, and involved a) interviewing (in-depth interviews every six weeks with each of the ladies, plus an interview with their partners; b) participant observation (observations of interactions using English between each lady and others in leisure events); c) testing: Each lady took the computer-adaptive language test DIALANG (AL TE 2007) on two occasions, at the beginning and end of the data collection period. The case study documents the intersection between two sets of interrelated elements linked to the SLL process: on the one hand, the investment the ladies made to acquire English as a form of cultural capital (Bourdieu 1986), meaning their activity using the recourses available to them. Identity was also significantly involved in such processes. On the other hand, the influence of gender in their interactions with English native speakers is also documented, including the role of the participants' partners as mediators between the ladies and the social context. The results show that all the ladies made progress but to differing degrees, and this variation is explained by the interaction between the above mentioned elements

This thesis investigates the distinctive characteristics of adult students’ experience of transition to higher education. It addresses a gap in the current academic literature which, driven by concerns about the economic, social and personal implications of ‘problematic’ or ‘failed’ transition, often conceptualises transition to higher education in narrow, instrumental terms and frames it as a predominately linear process with a discernible beginning and end. By highlighting what falls within normative parameters of transition, this approach arguably obscures its heterogeneity. The research presented in this thesis suggests that it particularly lacks the flexibility to illuminate the more diverse experience of adult students whose individual histories, responsibilities, social networks, fears and dreams are – in general – very different to those of ‘traditional’ younger students around whose needs most models of transition support are primarily shaped. By adopting a more radical conceptualisation of transition which sees it as the lifelong ebb and flow of change in response to the multiplicity of factors that impact and shape human experience, the research highlights two overarching aspects of adult students’ experience of transition which have received relatively little attention in the relevant literature. First, it highlights the ubiquitous presence of risk and the anxiety it engenders in adult students’ experience of transition. For the vast majority of adult students their decision to enter higher education later in life is accompanied by a heightened awareness that the expectations behind that decision may not be fully realised. The research suggests that the anxiety that frequently accompanies this awareness permeates their whole experience of transition to higher education and has the potential to intensify concerns about mastering its valued practices. Second, the research highlights the significance of adult students’ social networks outwith higher education. Managing the interaction between these and higher education networks and communities is challenging for some students, particularly when the identity shift inherent in transition entails an element of distancing from longstanding supportive networks. Overall, this research points to the need for a widened perspective on adult students’ transition which moves the focus beyond problem solving towards a more nuanced approach that more fully acknowledges the sheer diversity of the factors involved.

Assistants have been working in schools for many years. There are numerous types of assistants at the moment, such as: school caretakers, cleaners, cooks, dinner ladies, classroom assistants (including nursery nurses) and school secretaries. They relieve teaching staff from non-professional or time-consuming tasks, which could be carried out by a responsible adult, rather than a qualified teacher. The ST A initiative introduced a different set of tasks for classroom assistants. These placed a direct emphasis on assistants "contributing to teaching and learning of basic skills" (DfE 1993: par. 33). STAs were trained to work in the classroom supporting children with mathematics and English activities as opposed to carrying out non-teaching tasks such as: photocopying, making booklets or preparing resources for lessons, previously expected of assistants. The ST A scheme was the first initiative to acknowledge explicitly that assistants could contribute to teaching; a professional duty expected of a teacher. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) construed this as a challenge to teachers' professionalism; but the STA initiative has not created a new challenge. The vision that assistants can contribute to teaching has been known for some time. The Plowden Report (CACE 1967) first discussed the prospect of introducing teacher aides almost thirty years ago, but at that time it was not realised. Since then to the present day, assistants have seen their deployment change through the plethora of educational policy and the demands they have placed on teachers in their classrooms. This has led teachers to use the support they receive of assistants in different ways to maintain and raise standards in education. Assistants' roles, in recent years, have vi changed and they are likely to continue to change, as announcements from the government indicate (DfEE 1998). However, a concern regarding the STA scheme is that a minority of STAs' roles went much further than what might be expected. They were used as surrogate teachers with qualified teacher responsibilities.