Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4081. Adviser: Bonnie Armbruster. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 174-183) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University, 2005. / Major Professor: Catherine O'Connor. Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-249)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of English, 2007. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-117).

The challenges in learning pinyin, the romanized Chinese orthography, faced by 5-to-7-year-olds, have received little attention. This study represents an attempt to better understand learning an alphabetic writing system from the viewpoint of the alphabetic principle, in the context of the Chinese language, by examining both reading aloud and spelling, with a particular focus on spelling. To detect the challenges, a pinyin syllable-type test (STT) was developed, in which syllables were classified into seven spelling types guided by the alphabetic principle, where there is a letter-sound correspondence. Syllables of all the lengths under each type of spelling pattern were given to two age groups, 6-year-old first-grade pupils and 7-year-old second-grade pupils, at the start of their school year. The sample consists of a total of 192 pupils. In spelling, the STT reveals that challenges appear when the spelling type departs from the alphabetic principle. The results show that the hardest type of spelling is not the type containing the longest syllables, but a type one-half of that length, for which the correspondence between letters and sounds is abridged, but explicitly taught. In contrast, the latter type poses no problem in the reading-aloud test, where the results show little variation between the spelling types. Comparing the students' performance on the STT shows an order of challenges among the seven types emerging in the first grade. This order is confirmed in the second grade in some types but not others. The pupils' raw data reveal not only what is challenging but also why it is so. Along with an indication of the influence from the local speech, the data also point to the effect of the teaching method, which is more or less uniform all over China. Thus, there is a possible application of the findings to a larger population.

Esta investigação teve como objetivo analisar a relação da linguagem docente com a aprendizagem de alunos, no que se refere a influências do discurso docente no desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar por acadêmicos do curso de Psicologia. O problema de pesquisa questiona: Como o professor, através de seu discurso, pode problematizar o conteúdo em sala de aula, de forma a contribuir para que o aluno do curso de graduação em Psicologia desenvolva a habilidade de investigar? Na tentativa de responder a essa inquietação, foram estabelecidas questões que nortearam o processo de investigação: (1) Como a habilidade de investigar pode ser desenvolvida pelo aluno em seus processos de aprendizagem durante a graduação em Psicologia?; (2) Quais são os recursos de linguagem, presentes no discurso docente, passíveis de contribuir para o desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar dos alunos do curso de graduação em Psicologia?; e (3) Como a problematização, pelo discurso docente, pode contribuir para o desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar dos alunos do curso de graduação em Psicologia? O presente estudo buscou responder a essas questões propostas por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, incluindo observações decorrentes de minha prática como docente em curso de graduação em Psicologia, relacionadas à proposta desta investigação. O estudo, de caráter teórico, aborda o desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar como um processo da aprendizagem em que ocorre a mobilização de recursos cognitivos, operações mentais, para resolver situaçõesproblema. Também sugere alternativas para a compreensão de aspectos da linguagem presentes no investigar do psicólogo e na interação professor/aluno, com base na teoria enunciativa de Benveniste. São ainda propostas alternativas de resposta às questões norteadoras da pesquisa, no sentido de auxiliar a formação de estudantes de Psicologia ao apontar possibilidades de os professores utilizarem recursos presentes em sua linguagem oral, a fim de problematizar o ensino, de modo a colaborar com o desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar do psicólogo. O estudo salienta, igualmente, a importância do saber perguntar tanto para o psicólogo, quanto para o professor que buscam colaborar com o desenvolvimento do investigar de seus alunos. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-30T11:24:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Caroline Slomp.pdf: 1096039 bytes, checksum: bc13c80812347f11a1b53726f87d191d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-30T11:24:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Caroline Slomp.pdf: 1096039 bytes, checksum: bc13c80812347f11a1b53726f87d191d (MD5) / This research aims to analyze the professor’s language related to the p upil’s process of learning in the aspect of how the professor’s discourse influences the development of the ability of investigation done by the Psychology Course scholars. This research tried to answer the following question: How can the professor, using his/her speech, problematize the classroom content in order to contribute to the undergraduate students of Psychology to develop their ability to investigate? In an attempt to respond to this concern, it was established some issues which guided the research process: (1) How can the ability of investigation be developed by the students in their process of learning during their graduation course?; (2) What are the language features, present in the speech, which may contribute to the development of the ability of investigation of the undergraduation students of Psychology?; and (3) How can the problematization done through the professor’s speech contribute to the development of the ability of investigation of the undergraduation students? The present study aimed to answer these questions with bibliographical research, including observations from my own practice as a professor in the undergraduate course of Psychology. The study with theoretical characteristics discusses the development of the ability of investigation as a learning process in which occurs the mobilization of cognitive resources, mental operations, in order to solve problems. This study also suggests alternatives to the understanding the aspects of language present in the psychologist’s investigative process and in the interaction between the professor and his/her students based on Benveniste’s Theory of Enunciation. There are some other alternative proposals of response to guiding questions of this research, in order to assist the education of the Psychology students to point out some possibilities for professor to use features present in their oral language, to discuss the teaching, so as to contribute to the development of the ability of investigation. The study also stresses the importance of knowing how to ask to both the psychologist and the professor who seek to collaborate with the development of the investigation.

Esta investigação teve como objetivo analisar a relação da linguagem docente com a aprendizagem de alunos, no que se refere a influências do discurso docente no desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar por acadêmicos do curso de Psicologia. O problema de pesquisa questiona: Como o professor, através de seu discurso, pode problematizar o conteúdo em sala de aula, de forma a contribuir para que o aluno do curso de graduação em Psicologia desenvolva a habilidade de investigar? Na tentativa de responder a essa inquietação, foram estabelecidas questões que nortearam o processo de investigação: (1) Como a habilidade de investigar pode ser desenvolvida pelo aluno em seus processos de aprendizagem durante a graduação em Psicologia?; (2) Quais são os recursos de linguagem, presentes no discurso docente, passíveis de contribuir para o desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar dos alunos do curso de graduação em Psicologia?; e (3) Como a problematização, pelo discurso docente, pode contribuir para o desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar dos alunos do curso de graduação em Psicologia? O presente estudo buscou responder a essas questões propostas por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, incluindo observações decorrentes de minha prática como docente em curso de graduação em Psicologia, relacionadas à proposta desta investigação. O estudo, de caráter teórico, aborda o desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar como um processo da aprendizagem em que ocorre a mobilização de recursos cognitivos, operações mentais, para resolver situaçõesproblema. Também sugere alternativas para a compreensão de aspectos da linguagem presentes no investigar do psicólogo e na interação professor/aluno, com base na teoria enunciativa de Benveniste. São ainda propostas alternativas de resposta às questões norteadoras da pesquisa, no sentido de auxiliar a formação de estudantes de Psicologia ao apontar possibilidades de os professores utilizarem recursos presentes em sua linguagem oral, a fim de problematizar o ensino, de modo a colaborar com o desenvolvimento da habilidade de investigar do psicólogo. O estudo salienta, igualmente, a importância do saber perguntar tanto para o psicólogo, quanto para o professor que buscam colaborar com o desenvolvimento do investigar de seus alunos. / This research aims to analyze the professor’s language related to the p upil’s process of learning in the aspect of how the professor’s discourse influences the development of the ability of investigation done by the Psychology Course scholars. This research tried to answer the following question: How can the professor, using his/her speech, problematize the classroom content in order to contribute to the undergraduate students of Psychology to develop their ability to investigate? In an attempt to respond to this concern, it was established some issues which guided the research process: (1) How can the ability of investigation be developed by the students in their process of learning during their graduation course?; (2) What are the language features, present in the speech, which may contribute to the development of the ability of investigation of the undergraduation students of Psychology?; and (3) How can the problematization done through the professor’s speech contribute to the development of the ability of investigation of the undergraduation students? The present study aimed to answer these questions with bibliographical research, including observations from my own practice as a professor in the undergraduate course of Psychology. The study with theoretical characteristics discusses the development of the ability of investigation as a learning process in which occurs the mobilization of cognitive resources, mental operations, in order to solve problems. This study also suggests alternatives to the understanding the aspects of language present in the psychologist’s investigative process and in the interaction between the professor and his/her students based on Benveniste’s Theory of Enunciation. There are some other alternative proposals of response to guiding questions of this research, in order to assist the education of the Psychology students to point out some possibilities for professor to use features present in their oral language, to discuss the teaching, so as to contribute to the development of the ability of investigation. The study also stresses the importance of knowing how to ask to both the psychologist and the professor who seek to collaborate with the development of the investigation.

This study examines the history and development of the “Arabic as a foreign language” (AFL) programme in Dearborn Public Schools (in Michigan, the United States) in its socio-cultural and political context. More specifically, this study examines the significance of Arabic to the Arab immigrant and ethnic community in Dearborn in particular, but with reference to meanings generated and associated to Arabic by non- Arabs in the same locale. Although this study addresses questions similar to research conducted on Arab Americans in light of anthropological and sociological theoretical constructs, it is, however, unique in examining education and Arabic pedagogy in Dearborn from an Arab American studies and an educational multi-cultural perspective, predicated on/and drawing from Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism, Paulo Freire’s ideas about education, and Henry Giroux’s concern with critical pedagogy. In the American mindscape, the "East" has been the theatre of the exotic, the setting of the Other from colonial times to the present. The Arab and Muslim East have been constructed to represent an opposite of American culture, values and life. Through the agency of conflation, Arab (and Muslim) Americans are accordingly lumped together with people from abroad, making for their status as permanent outsiders. Thus, if the American Self represents an ideal, the inhabitants of this oppositional world of Arabs and Islam (an Anti-world) represent an Anti-self. A source of fear and object of hate and prejudice, this Anti-self is the object of derision and anything connected with it (e.g. language, customs, religion, etc.) becomes suspect and is devalued by association. This document has two objectives: First, to present an historical account of this context, and, secondly, to shed light on how and why things that are associated with Arab Americans in Dearborn are devalued. This is achieved by addressing the developments of meanings (of actions and symbols) in their American context, and how they have shaped (and still shape) the local culture's depiction of and understanding of Arab (and Muslim) Americans. Therefore, Arab American issues of language, culture and societal interactions should be understood as constituting a stream of American life, which represent a dimension of the total American experience, past and present, that is best understood through the paradigm of American studies. Viewing this experience as a cultural whole rather than as a series of unrelated fragments (e.g. immigration waves and settlement patterns, religious and state affiliations, assimilation and preservation debates), Arab American culture and issues begin to shine through as an organic and holistic experience whose characteristics are shared with other groups, suggesting research on this community is equally generalisable to others. ii As an academic work, this document promotes an understanding of the Arab American experience from an interdisciplinary point of view through focusing on the phenomenon of language in the community with emphasis placed on the AFL experience at school. Therefore, it is a broadly-framed outlook that permits, in an introductory way, a view of the richness of the Arab American experience, particularly in Dearborn, Michigan, as part of the American experience. Data were collected using two surveys, one for AFL students at a high school, and another was administered to adults in the community—in Dearborn. In addition, an action-research-based effort, individual personal interviews and focus groups were conducted with stakeholders in the community: parents/community members, teachers/school personnel and students, utilising personal involvement in understanding and analysing the data. Also, the study referred to archival and documentary evidence available in the school system. Four hypotheses regarding importance/significance and utility of Arabic were offered and tested by means of qualitative, interpretive analysis. Findings included: (1) Arab Americans valued Arabic as an emblem of their community in Dearborn, suggesting its employment as an indicator of political empowerment. (2) Conversely, in the non-Arab community Arabic was observed as a mark of the Other, and an artefact of ethnic retrenchment and rejection of assimilation. (3) Interestingly, however, development of English language competence emerged as a major concern in the community, outweighing Arabic language preservation. (4) While, language maintenance efforts in the community were observed as minimal, especially at the organisational level, and support for such programmes was marginal to nil. (5) Additionally, Arabic, while not the object of a desire to master as a medium of communication, was observed to signify a special symbol of heritage for Arab American youth in the Dearborn community, who may have rejected their parents’ ideas about learning Arabic, but had developed their own. (6) What is more, Arab American youth were observed developing a viable hybridised identity, whose mainstay is being “Arabic”, despite the dominance of English and Euro-Anglo cultural norms. (7) At the institutional level, Arabic was observed devalued in the school setting due to its association with Arabs, Islam, Arab Americans, and immigration. (8) Moreover, relations between Arab Americans and non-Arab Americans in the school system seems to have been equally impacted by this process of devaluation, furthering the cause of stigmatisation, prejudice and racism.

South Tyrol, which is situated on the border between Austria and Italy, has been considered a 'peace model' by many nation-states since the creation of the province's autonomy statutes. The objective of these statutes was to allow for minority protection of the German- and Ladin-speaking communities while also permitting Austria to be the 'protector' of South Tyrol even though the province is situated in Italy. Another bi-product of these statutes was the creation of the 'separate but equal' education system, which allowed the German-, Italian- and Ladin-speaking communities to have individual schools in order to protect their culture and language identity. In the past several decades, there has been an increase in 'mixed' marriages with members of differing language groups producing bilingual children. Additionally, civil service positions now require that all applicants have a mandatory comprehension of the L2, or in some cases L3, in order to apply for certain posts. As the education system tries to adjust to local concerns regarding the insufficient teaching of the L2 in monolingual education, the concept of South Tyrol as a 'peace model' is brought into question. In this thesis, I examine how the South Tyrolean school system is reflective of society at large as its divided education mirrors the current fissures existent amongst the language communities. With parents looking for alternative measures to instruct their children in the L2, some residents would prefer a bilingual schooling option to encourage inter-group assimilation. Furthermore, I discuss, outside of education, external social factors in the region which impact L2 learning creating language learning 'blocks' and 'victim' versus 'conqueror' mentalities. The objective of this research is to try and understand how South Tyrol continues to be in transition as the province adjusts to more bilingualism despite the historical need to preserve the language minorities.

In the Florida Public Schools' Curriculum, there lacks a requirement for completion of foreign language credits in order for a student to graduate. However, many colleges and universities, as well as scholarship programs like the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship, require students to take a minimum of two consecutive years of a foreign language. In many schools, there is an abundance of Level 1 and Level 2 foreign language classrooms, but in the upper levels there seems to be a scarcity of students within those programs. Why is it that these few students are motivated to continue studying the language, even though it is not required of them? This study serves to show the variety of motivations felt by high school students during the 2007-2008 school year. After conducting several focus groups at Oviedo High School in Oviedo, FL, with Spanish 3 and Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish students, the researcher analyzed the variety of reasons given candidly by the students. Through the conversations with these students, a better understanding of the motivations of high school students can be attained. Through this understanding, educators can target other areas that might motivate students, and thus work to increase enrollment in classes and to ensure that students can see the benefits of learning a second language with fluency.