Literature-based reading instruction is a current method being used in elementary schools today. A growing body of research on such programs used within the regular education classroom suggests that such programs improve students abilities to critically construct meaning. Yet, despite this movement, little has been documented on how such programs might effect learning disabled students mainstreamed in the regular education classroom for reading instruction. The main focus of this study then, was to examine the strategies and possible teaching modifications that would be necessary for learning disabled students to participate in a literature-based reading program along with their regular education peers. Three learning disabled students within the researcher's fifth grade classroom were voluntary participants in this study and received all of the same reading instruction as their non-labeled classmates.

There is a need in the United States for a philosophical change in education. Students schooled in the traditional manner of direct instruction are not graduating high school with adequate preparation to enter college or the work force. To change this trend, teachers must consider using methods other than direct instruction. This thesis presents one possible method: active learning. For information to be most useful to students, it must be made relevant. Active learning places emphasis on meaning making and the entire process of learning which encourages students to find connections with the material. In active learning, students become learners as well as learned in a subject, a step beyond direct instruction. Presented is a model for all of curriculum, a refinement of active learning for high school Shakespeare including example lessons.

This descriptive study investigates gender bias in the high school canon novels as identified by Arthur Applebee (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993). An historical survey of the teaching of literature in the high school precedes the content analysis of the seven novels. The historical survey shows that most of the novels entered the high school canon during the 1960s. During the past three decades, these works have been subjected to a variety of critical interpretations, as well as assorted pedagogical strategies. / The content analysis of the seven novels uses several critical perspectives. Gender bias exists in the focus on male protagonists and in the generalized idea of females as a dangerous presence. More specifically, the siren/whore image of women pervades the canon novels. Other stereotypes include the asexual older woman as pedantic authority figure. Women characters are subjected to violence, but this violence is rationalized. The high school canon novels perpetuate the ideology of the white Euro/Anglo male as oppressor. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-07, Section: A, page: 1858. / Major Professor: John S. Simmons. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

This dissertation, "Electronic Outlaws:w(r)iting the repressed," is an attempt to work in ecriture feminine, or "woman writing," as defined by Helene Cixous in "The Laugh of the Medusa," with a pedagogical strategy as an implication for the writing. The method of writing I have developed is called scripting. The dissertation is based on a performance art piece by the same name as the dissertation and I ground my ideas in the theoretical framework utilized for the performance. / The preface sets forth the ideas for the theoretical framework of scripting and suggests that scripting is a way to express the repression this culture imposes. The introduction and next two chapters are essays explaining the theoretical basis for chapter three. Chapter three is a transcription of a performance piece by the same name as the dissertation and is the experiment in woman writing. Chapter four is a discussion of how scripting may be used in the classroom. Appendix A is a video of the entire dissertation and Appendix B contains programs from the performance of "Electronic Outlaws." / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2836. / Major Professor: Sheila Taylor. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The present research study has included three theoretical constructs of beliefs (the self-efficacy belief, the outcome value belief and the internal control belief) in one structural model to explain college students' engagement and achievement in foreign language learning. Subjects were 285 students who were enrolled in the beginning courses of French, German, Russian, and Spanish in a large southern university. Data were collected in the first few weeks of the semester and at the end of the semester. / Tests of the proposed causal model using Lisrel 7 revealed that a revised model would result in a better fitting and more theoretically meaningful model. / Results of the revised model support the hypothesis that self-efficacy is a mediating factor between various cognitive factors and students' learning results. Self-efficacy was also found to have an effect on students' self study time at the first few weeks of the semester. Students' reported self study time later in the semester was related to their perceived task demand and their earlier performance. Outcome value directly affects students' willingness to persist in learning the target language, and indirectly influences achievement through its direct effect on efficacy expectations. Students' belief in effort also had an indirect effect on achievement through its direct effect on efficacy expectations. It was suggested that two major factors may cause discrepancies in test results of efficacy beliefs: the type of task involved in the study, and the time frame within which measures of efficacy and behavior indicators are collected. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-04, Section: A, page: 0916. / Major Professor: Bruce W. Tuckman. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

This study provides both an overview of current language and education policies for language minorities and a comprehensive comparative analysis of educational programs in Canada, Peru, and Sweden. These three countries, illustrating distinctive situations, were selected on the basis of their pluralistic composition and growing concern with the education of their multiethnic and linguistic minorities. / Two types of data were collected from each country. First, descriptive data regarding the educational system, ethnolinguistic minorities, policies concerning national language and language education, and educational provisions for linguistic minorities were obtained through pertinent documents and other printed materials. Second, supplementary data relating to bilingual/bicultural programs were gathered through a survey questionnaire. / Content analysis of the official documents provided: (a) narrative descriptions of policies concerning language and language education and educational provisions for children of linguistic minorities in Canada, Peru, and Sweden; and (b) a comparative analysis of the bilingual/bicultural programs and/or other types of educational provisions for linguistic minorities in each of these three pluralistic nations, based on the five factors selected for this study, i.e., goals and philosophies, policies, scope and sequence, curriculum, and staffing. The analysis of the survey results provided information on the current status of minority language education programs and the opinions of participants on the major achievements and limitations concerning these programs as well as information on national language policy. / The principal findings regarding language policy and educational provisions for linguistic minority children are provided in terms of their goals and philosophies, policies, scope and sequence, and teacher training. In general, this study establishes that developed pluralistic nations and developing nations as well face complex national and educational language policy issues; language of instruction policy is one of these issues, and the policy governing the extent to which the vernacular language is introduced as a medium or subject of instruction varies from country to country as a function of many social, political, and economic factors. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-08, Section: A, page: 2928. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

This study examined the motivation and achievement of Greek students in English as a Foreign Language as seen from the perspective of gender and parental education. Specifically, it endeavored to answer (a) if there was a relationship between motivational orientation and parental education, (b) if there was a relationship between motivational orientation and gender, (c) if there is a relationship between language achievement scores and parental education, (d) if there was a difference in language achievement scores in school according to gender, and (e) if there was a relationship between motivational orientation and language achievement scores. The site of the research setting was three high schools in Athens, the capital of Greece. The three schools were part of an urban Athens school complex, housing four public schools. The subjects were 136 ninth and tenth grade students enrolled in the three Greek high schools and they were administered a questionnaire by the classroom teachers. All scoring was computer-analyzed. For question (a) an ANOVA was conducted with 3 levels of education and motivation as the dependent variable. For question (b) an ANOVA was conducted with 2 levels of gender and motivation as the dependent variable. For question (c) a Pearson product moment coefficient was calculated. For questions (d) and (e) an ANOVA was conducted with language achievement scores as dependent variable, and 2 levels of gender, and 3 levels of parental education as the independent variables. / The study showed that the relationship between motivational orientation and parental education, between motivational orientation and gender, and finally, between motivational orientation and language achievement scores was not significant. The relationship between language achievement and parental education was not significant either. The relationship between achievement scores and gender was significant. Females did better in English as a Foreign Language than males. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-05, Section: A, page: 1198. / Major Professor: Ernest Frechette. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

This was a nonequivalent control group study of the effects of two curricular approaches on junior high students' attitudes toward Hispanics. One group was exposed to a semester of Spanish I, primarily a linguistically-based course. Another group was enrolled in a semester-length "Exploring Spanish" course, primarily culturally-based. In addition to these two groups, a control group was employed. A total of 194 students were available for both the pretest and posttest versions of the attitude measures--Cooke's Semantic Differential and the Revised Bogardus Social Distance Scale. / To look for a significant change in attitude resulting from the Spanish I or Exploring Spanish instruction, attitude scores were submitted to a one-way analysis of covariance. The analysis of data did not reveal significant differences between any two groups in regard to attitude toward Hispanics. / A supplementary aspect of the study was the correlation of students' grades in the Spanish I or Exploring Spanish classes with attitude toward Hispanics. Significant correlations were found for particular countries of interest and particular measures of attitude. / This research indicates that, for junior high students, foreign language and cultural instruction does not foster positive attitudes toward the target language group. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-01, Section: A, page: 0067. / Major Professor: Frederick L. Jenks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

The purpose of the study was to investigate how social context influences kindergartners' topic selection strategies and subsequent written text for journal writing. Operating from a cognitive-psychological and a sociolinguistic perspective, the researcher became a participant observer in a kindergarten classroom over a period of 19 weeks. Within the social context of the kindergarten classroom, the researcher employed a number of qualitative methods designed to gather information pertinent to the research questions proposed: participant observation, interviewing techniques, audio recordings, fieldnotes, photographic recordings, the case study method, and triangulation procedures. Data collection consisted of the children's writing samples, social interaction recordings, ongoing interviews, and collected artifacts. Presentation and analysis of the data collected relating to the whole kindergarten classroom is included along with the data relating to three case study participants. The following contextual factors were identified and considered pertinent to the proposed research questions and the data collected: setting, genre, materials, routine, audience, evaluation, the role of the teacher, social group influences, and social/school competence. Based on the results of the study, the following tentative conclusions/hypotheses were generated with regard to the kindergartners' topic selection strategies and subsequent written text for journal writing: (1) the kindergartners' perspectives of the purpose for journal writing within the context of the classroom influenced selected topics, (2) the sharing of materials for journal writing served as a catalyst for social interaction which exerted an influence on their topic selection strategies and subsequent written text, (3) the teacher, along with the students, seemed to impose an acceptable structure for journal / writing which was indicative of social/school competence, and (4) the role of the teacher had a strong influence on the kindergartners' selected topics and subsequent written text for journal writing. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-02, Section: A, page: 0405. / Major Professor: Virginia P. Green. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

Thirty-eight seven year old children were tested to evaluate the effects of response format and stimulus expectancy (based on subject's label of the test item) on picture and word identification test scores and response latencies. Results of the study indicated that there are significant differences between the picture and word identification tasks. Response latencies were longer and identification scores were lower for the picture identification task. Fifty-nine percent of the test items that were labeled incorrectly were also identified incorrectly. Furthermore, the label given to the test items, by the individual, was found to have a significant effect on the overall test results. Results of this study indicate that the problems encountered when utilizing picture-identification tests stem from the pictures that comprise the test and not the picture test format itself. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-12, Section: A, page: 3696. / Major Professor: William H. Haas. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.