The main objective of this ethnographic study is to examine the processes by which minority students, Koreans Born in Japan (KBJs), are able to find their own voices within Japanese educational settings. I also explore how minority, KBJ students, and majority, Japanese students, learn to understand each other and their identities in two educational settings: university and high school, and how educators' knowledge and theories contribute to the process. One setting is a sociology class taught by a Japanese professor. The other setting is a Japanese public high school. For this ethnographic study, my data consist of transcriptions of interview sessions, reflection essays and reaction papers written by students. The data also include daily field notes on my classroom observations, my interactions with the participants and email messages from the participants. I analyze and interpret the data by looking at the data sources inclusively in order to answer my research questions. The results show that the KBJ students explore their identities reflectively and describe and revalue themselves as active participants of society within humanistic and liberatory educational settings. Originally, my research questions focused on only KBJ learners. However, in the process of collecting data, I realized that I had obtained important data from my Japanese participants. This helped to refine my research questions to incorporate the process of how majority students, describe, demystify, and redefine their perceptions of their KBJ peers as well as their own identities. This study highlights the ways in which educators, knowledge and theories influence the processes by which both minority and majority students describe, demystify and redefine their own identities self reflectively. My findings indicate that humanistic and liberatory education offer opportunities for minority students to describe and revalue themselves as learners and active participants in society. In addition, humanistic and liberatory education also offers opportunities for majority students to describe, demystify and redefine their KBJ peers as well as their own identities.

This dissertation has two main goals. First, it explores the use of hypermedia annotations by intermediate and advanced ESL learners while reading a hypermedia text. Second, the study investigates the relationship between reading comprehension and several variables that are the focus of this study: annotation use, text format, and prior knowledge. The participants are 103 ESL adult learners enrolled at the Center for English as a Second Language at the University of Arizona. Data were collected in several ways. A tracking tool incorporated into the hypermedia program recorded every interaction of the reader with the text in terms of the frequency of access to a given annotation or the amount and time spent on a given annotation. Data also included scores from a reading comprehension test and a prior knowledge test, both of which were developed for this study, as well as data from interviews and a questionnaire. Results indicate that intermediate and advanced learners displayed different patterns of annotation use. The intermediate group accessed annotations more frequently than the advanced group. However, they did not spend more time on annotations. The relationship between annotation use and reading comprehension also differed based on the proficiency level. While annotation use did not explain reading comprehension for the advanced group, over-reliance on certain annotations had a negative impact on the intermediate group. The study did not find any effect of text format on reading comprehension. However, prior knowledge was found to be an important variable related to reading comprehension. Finally, the qualitative data reveal that hypermedia reading had a positive impact on the participants' attitude towards reading on the computer. Despite the lack of quantitative evidence for the significant contribution of annotation use on reading comprehension, the participants indicated that the provision of information using multiple forms of media made reading more enjoyable and comprehensible.

This study is based on participant observation and ethnographic fieldwork in Tlaxcala, Mexico and looks at language use and linguistic ideology in several Mexicano speaking communities undergoing language shift in the Malintsi (Malinche) region of Central Mexico. Many Tlaxcalans expressed conflicting feelings about teaching Mexicano to their children, while some actively avoid transmitting the indigenous language. I suggest that there is ideological multiplicity that surfaces in discourses of language, identity and progress. This multiplicity is organized through three discourses that have local, regional, and national expressions, these are: the pro-development meta-discourse of salir adelante, or forging ahead, and improving one's socioeconomic position; menosprecio , the denigration of indigenous identity; and third, the pro-indigena or pro-indigenous discourse that promotes a positive attitude towards indigenous-ness. The analysis of discourse offers a productive means for understanding the semiotic resources speakers employ as they orient towards and against particular identities through discourses they create and tap into. Using recorded data collected during field research, I analyze "naturally occurring" and elicited speech, and interviews conducted with local people on language use, ideology, shift, and bilingual schooling. The study of bilingual schooling offers an important site for the study of ideological multiplicity. Bilingual-indigenous schools in Tlaxcala as both community and nation-state institutions are a nexus for the discursive emergence and local reformulation of ideologies of language, identity, modernity, and the nation. I consider the politics and possibilities of language revitalization through the school system, focusing on the dialectics between agency and structure, as local communities and teachers interact with the national system. Despite the tremendous structural and ideological constraints on bilingual teachers, several are dedicated "language promoters." In this dissertation I suggest that focusing on ideological multiplicity, surfacing in and through discourse, can begin to address the question of how and why speakers shift their ideologies and their languages.

This study examines the pre-writing strategies and behaviors of three fifth grade students diagnosed as having learning disabilities as they participate in a process writing program which embeds elements of strategy intervention in a holistic environment. Five questions are posed, four of which relate to planning strategies, their effects on rough drafts, and whether or not either change over the course of one school year. The fifth question addresses change measured by standardized assessment. The Test of Written Language (Hammill & Larsen, 1983), a controlled writing sample, a concept interview, a brainstorm interview, the Manual Observation Form (Goodman, 1984) and actual writing samples are used to record and analyze data. Results show growth in strategy use, and in areas related to generation and organization of material. Results also show growth in students' positive attitudes toward writing. Findings support use of such a process writing approach with students who have difficulty achieving proficiency in written language. Specific implications for educators are discussed.

This study addressed four questions about bilingual first graders' Spanish and English retellings. First, how do their retellings change over the period of one school year? Second, how do their own Spanish and English retellings of the same story compare and contrast? Third, do English retellings influence Spanish retellings? Fourth, do Spanish retellings influence English retellings? The retellings were scored using a holistic measure. Nine bilingual first grade students were placed in two experimental groups based on teacher observation. The groups were comprised of a heterogenous mix of students and were similar to each other. The first graders' Spanish and English retellings improved over the school year. Their Spanish retellings consistently scored higher than their English retellings. The findings did not indicate an influence of Spanish retellings on English retellings. There was no influence of English retellings on Spanish retellings, except in one domain of the measure used.

This descriptive socio-linguistic study examines second grade children's biliteracy development in a private school in Buenos Aires, where English is taught as a foreign language. It describes a bilingual setting in Argentina and determines how these second graders are becoming biliterate. The major findings of the study are: (1) Students are learning English as a foreign language, not as a second language. (2) The model of language learning influenced the children's perceptions of themselves as language learners, readers and writers. (3) Students frequently transferred and applied literacy in the first language (Spanish) to foreign language literacy (English). (4) In order to read and write in a language, a person doesn't have to be orally fluent in it. (5) Learning is a socially constructed process.

This project investigates the extent to which personality type theory merits attention as a useful lens through which to examine teacher responding practices. It also suggests directions for further study utilizing personality type theory as a way to help better understand teacher and student attitudes and practices in the composition classroom. After explaining personality type theory in general and reviewing recent scholarship on personality type and teaching, I consider possible connections between selected personality type preferences and teacher attitudes and responding practices. / The project consists of two phases: the first uses a survey and a correlational study to examine the connections between the personality preferences of 28 composition teachers and their attitudes and responding practices, and the second uses a case-study approach to look more closely at the attitudes and practices of four of those 28 teachers. Based on an analysis of the data generated by this project, I conclude that while type preferences may not be predictive of specific kinds of teacher responses, preferences are sufficiently related both to teaching styles in general and to teacher responding practices in particular to merit additional study by composition researchers. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-03, Section: A, page: 0850. / Major Professor: John Fenstermaker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the higher order thinking skills utilized by high school students as they use information to write research papers. The study explores the problems in thinking encountered by the students throughout the research process and the decisions they made concerning the process. It relates thinking to strategies students employ throughout and to the stages through which they progress as they conduct research and compose research papers. / A field study was conducted over a three-month period with grade 11 International Baccalaureate students in a high school in Alberta, Canada. Three research assignments were carried out by the students during this time. Data were collected from thirty-four participants using participant observation, interviews, documents, and think-aloud protocols. The analytical method of constant comparison was used to determine trends and patterns. / A model was developed of thinking during information use. It demonstrates how five characteristics of thinking found in the context of information use are interrelated. The model demonstrates how the following findings are linked: (1) thinking is carried out intuitively, without awareness of the processes involved; (2) thinking can be carried out for purposes that are external or internal to the information; (3) the thinking processes described by Bloom's taxonomy are carried out continually throughout the various stages of the research process; (4) the complexity of usage of thinking skills is affected by the nature of the information question; (5) an orientation towards process or product also influences the level of complexity of thinking. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2367. / Major Professor: Elisabeth Logan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of type of testing method and reading proficiency level on readers' comprehension scores. A secondary purpose was to examine any interaction between these two factors. In addition, a question of interest was whether Bernhardt's Second Language Reading Model could help explain the comprehension processes of these group of readers. / The subjects were 162 Malaysian ESL students from three levels of reading proficiency courses at the National University of Malaysia. The subjects read a 306-word passage about the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Subjects then performed either a multiple-choice task or an immediate written recall task. Comprehension was measured by the scores obtained on the two tasks. Both tasks were measured on the same scale based upon number of weighted idea units or propositions. / A 3 x 2 Factorial ANOVA was applied to examine the effects of testing method and reading proficiency level on subjects' comprehension scores. The results of the ANOVA reveal that there is a main effect for type of testing method. However, there seems to be no significant effect of proficiency level on the comprehension scores. The results also indicate an absence of interaction between the two factors. The qualitative analysis of 81 recall protocols provides evidence in support of Bernhardt's Second Language Reading Model. / The study calls for the use of multiple-assessment techniques in ESL reading comprehension. The immediate written recall task is recommended as a valid assessment instrument for classroom application. Further pedagogical and testing implications are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2496. / Major Professor: Frederick L. Jenks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The research literature has established a solid link between early development of phonological awareness and subsequent development of beginning reading skills. In addition to the empirical data obtained from longitudinal-correlational studies, training studies have indicated that the relationship is a causal one. The training studies have reported that it is possible to increase phonological awareness skills through training and that the training has an effect on subsequent acquisition of beginning reading skills. Few studies, however, have reported individual differences in response to phonological awareness training. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine which child characteristics would predict response to a twelve-week phonological awareness training program. One hundred kindergarten children participated in the study. Sixty children received phonological awareness training, while forty children served as a no-treatment control group. An analysis of covariance verified that the training had an effect on the children's phonological awareness skills. Once group-level differences were obtained, correlates of growth were examined by analyzing individual growth curves with hierarchical linear models. The best predictor of growth in both segmenting and blending was performance on the nonword spelling measure prior to training. The best model for predicting growth in segmenting included nonword spelling and general verbal ability, while the best model for blending included nonword spelling and rapid serial naming of digits. These latter variables accounted for essentially all of the reliable growth in blending skills, while the predictive model for segmenting left a significant proportion of the variance in growth unexplained. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-02, Section: A, page: 0246. / Major Professor: Joseph K. Torgesen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.