Recent research has suggested that building personal relationships with students and establishing "learning communities" may be one way to encourage students to persist in their studies beyond the first year. Because many institutions require students to complete one or more writing courses early in their careers, first-year composition instructors have the opportunity to interact with students as they first attempt to assimilate into the academic culture. Response activities--one of the key ways writing instructors interact with their students and ask their students to engage with one another--can be a be a way to both facilitate effective revision and foster a sense of community among students. Group conferencing, defined in this study as a meeting between an instructor and a small group of students in which the participants receive feedback on drafts from their group members and instructor simultaneously, is a promising strategy for achieving those goals effectively and efficiently. The purpose of this study was to use a teacher research/participant-observer methodology to examine group conferencing more expansively and thoroughly than previous researchers and depicting a broader range of the behaviors that characterized the conferences and including the students' perception of the activity. In order to achieve these aims, a group of eighteen first-year composition students participated in individual conferences, in-class peer response, and group conferences and completed reflective assignments about each activity's effectiveness. Recordings of the group conferences were reviewed for significant behavioral patterns and the students' written responses were analyzed for indications of positive and negative reactions to group conferencing. The results included many behaviors described by previous researchers as well as several additional behavioral patterns that indicated the activity could be an effective and unique feedback experience. Most notably, working side-by-side with the instructor seemed to enhance the quality of feedback the students were able to offer one another because the instructor was able to demonstrate appropriate response techniques, prompt for more detailed responses from the students, and reinforce the students' helpful contributions. The students' written responses indicated that they saw value in group conferencing and, in some cases, came to prefer it over other feedback activities. Further, the findings of this study suggest that group conferencing may provide opportunities for community-building not afforded by other response strategies.

With respect to matters of identities as a treacherous and sensitive subject in today’s college classroom, this project explores concepts like identity, otherness, resistance, otherization, writer’s identity, and identity negotiation; and interrogates how these concepts may affect learning and professional relationship among the class members in the First Year Composition Classroom. The crux of the argument in this research is that process and social construction collaborative pedagogies can be effective in negotiating the resistance and otherness manifesting from identity dichotomies in the First Year Composition classroom.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Fred O. Bradley / This study investigated the use of the MAP-Works[superscript]TM program that is designed to help retain first-year students by identifying the level of retention risk for each student early in their first semester and communicating this risk to key university faculty and staff. The participants for this study were all first semester freshman students enrolled during the academic years 2012 and 2013. This study sought to determine if the MAP-Works[superscript]TM program and resulting intervention were effective in predicting the retention of high-risk first semester freshman students to their second semester and second year. The data analysis for this study used quantitative data analysis methods. The first and second research questions asking which of the factors were significant in predicting retention were answered using independent samples t-tests. The third research question asking if the intervention was significant was answered using a 2x2 Chi-square test for independence. The fourth and final research question asked which of the factors contributed the most in predicting retention was answered using a direct (binary) logistic regression analysis. This study found for high-risk domestic students Cumulative GPA, Socio-Emotional, Test Anxiety, Peers, Homesickness: Distressed, Academic Integration, Social Integration and Environment were able to be associated significantly with retention from fall-to-spring semester. For international students GPA, Self-Efficacy and Self-Discipline were able to be associated significantly with retention. The study showed for fall-to-fall retention for domestic students that cumulative GPA, Socio-Emotional, Communication, Analytical, Social Integration and On-Campus Living Social were significant. The research found that the intervention conducted by their direct connects for high-risk domestic students was significant for fall-to-fall retention. The logistic regression analysis showed for domestic students that Cumulative GPA, Financial Means, Socio-Emotional, and ACT Composite score were significant for fall-to-fall retention. The strongest predictor of retention was Cumulative GPA followed by Socio-Emotional, Financial then ACT Composite score. The regression analysis for high-risk international students showed that Cumulative GPA, Gender, and Student Residence were significant for fall-to-fall retention. The strongest predictor of retention was cumulative GPA, Gender (Female) and Student Residence (Off Campus).

abstract: Most new first-year composition (FYC) students already have a great deal of writing experience. Much of this experience comes from writing in digital spaces, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. This type of writing is often invisible to students: they may not consider it to be writing at all. This dissertation seeks to better understand the actual connections between writing in online spaces and writing in FYC, to see the connections students see between these types of writing, and to work toward a theory for making use of those connections in the FYC classroom. The following interconnected articles focus specifically on Facebook--the largest and most ubiquitous social network site (SNS)-- as a means to better understand students' digital literacy practices. Initial data was gathered through a large-scale survey of FYC students about their Facebook use and how they saw that use as connected to composition and writing. Chapter 1 uses the data to suggest that FYC students are not likely to see a connection between Facebook and FYC but that such a connection exists. The second chapter uses the same data to demonstrate that men and women are approaching Facebook slightly differently and to explore what that may mean for FYC teachers. The third chapter uses 10 one-on-one interviews with FYC students to further explore Facebook literacies. The interviews suggest that the literacy of Facebook is actually quite complex and includes many modes of communication in addition to writing, such as pictures, links, and "likes." The final chapter explores the issue of transfer. While transfer is popular in composition literature, studies tend to focus on forward-reading and not backward-reaching transfer. This final chapter stresses the importance of this type of transfer, especially when looking back at digital literacy knowledge that students have gained through writing online. While these articles are intended as stand-alone pieces, together they demonstrate the complex nature of literacies on Facebook, how they connection to FYC, and how FYC teachers may use them in their classrooms. They serve as a starting off point for discussions of effective integration of digital literacies into composition pedagogies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2014

abstract: This study provides insights into the nature of L2 writers' engagement with written corrective feedback (WCF) - how they process it and what they understand about the nature of the error - to explore its potential for language development. It also explores various factors, such as individual, socio-contextual, and pedagogical, which influence the extent of student engagement. Data include students' revisions recorded with screen-capture software and video-stimulated recall. The video-stimulated recall data were transcribed and coded for evidence of processing, error awareness, and error resolution. In addition, I conducted interviews with students and their instructors, and through a thematic analysis, I identified individual and socio-contextual factors that appeared to influence students' engagement. The findings of the study indicate that the processing of WCF and error awareness may be affected by pedagogical factors, such as the type of feedback and its delivery method. In addition, I found that while socio-contextual factors, such as grading policy, may influence students' attitudes toward the importance of grammar accuracy in their writing or motivation to seek help with grammar outside of class, such factors do not appear to affect students' engagement with WCF at the time of revision. Based on the insights gained from this study, I suggest that direct feedback may be more beneficial if it is provided in a comment or in the margin of the paper, and that both direct and indirect feedback may be more effective if a brief explanation about the nature of the error is included. In addition, students may need to be provided with guidelines on how to engage with their instructors' feedback. I conclude by suggesting that if WCF is provided, students should be held accountable for making revisions, and I recommend ways in which this can be done without penalizing students for not showing immediate improvements on subsequent writing projects. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2015

abstract: This project examines how writing teachers of multilingual students conceptualize their pedagogical practices. Specifically, it draws on work in teacher cognition research to examine the nature of teacher knowledge and the unique characteristics of this knowledge specific to the teaching of second language writing. Seeing teacher knowledge as something embedded in teachers’ practices and their articulation of the goals of these practices, this project uses case studies of four writing instructors who teach multilingual students of First-Year Composition (FYC). Through qualitative analysis of interviews, observations, and written feedback practices, teachers’ goals and task selection were analyzed to understand their knowledge base and the beliefs that underlie their personal pedagogies. Results from this study showed that while participants’ course objectives were primarily in alignment with the institutional goals for the course, they each held individual orientations toward the subject matter. These different orientations influenced their task selection, class routines, and assessment. This study also found that teachers’ understanding of their students was closely tied with their orientations of the subject matter and thus must be understood together. Findings from this study support a conceptualization of teacher knowledge as a construct comprised of highly interdependent aspects of teachers’ knowledge base. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Linguistics and Applied Linguistics 2017

abstract: Situated in the influx of Chinese students entering U.S. higher education and the L2 writing research growing interests in investigating learners’ experience to gain further insights into their emic perspectives on English literacy development, this dissertation argues that the identifying the beliefs as the underlying principle shaping and being shaped by our experience. In this dissertation, I propose a theoretical framework of beliefs and validates the framework by using it to examine multilingual writers’ learning experience in the context of First Year Composition. The framework advances a definition of beliefs and a framework demonstrating the relationship among three constructs—perception, attitude, and behavior. In order to develop the framework, I first synthesized existing literature on language learning beliefs and argue the scarcity of L2 writing researchers’ discussing belief when exploring learners’ experience. I define beliefs as an individual’s generalizations from the mental construction of the experience, based on evaluation and judgment, thus are predisposed to actions. I proposed a framework of belief, consisting three mental constructs—perception, attitude and action—to identify and examine factors contributing the formation and change of beliefs. I drew on drawing on Dewey's theory of experience and Rokeach's (1968) belief theory, and contextual approach to beliefs in the field of second language acquisition. I analyzed the interview data of twenty-two Chinses students accounting their English learning experiences across four different contexts, including English class in China, TOEFL training courses, intensive English program, and FYC classroom. The findings show that their beliefs were formed and transformed in the contexts before FYC. They perceived all the writing learning in those courses as similar content and curriculum, but the attitudes vary regarding the immediate contexts and long-term goal of using the knowledge. They believe grammar and vocabulary is the “king’s way,” the most effective and economic approach, which was emphasized in the test-oriented culture. Moreover, the repetitive course content and various pedagogies, including multiple revisions and the requirement of visiting writing center, have been perceived as requiring demonstration more efforts, which in turn prompted them to develop their own negotiation strategies, the actions, to gain more credits for the class. This dissertation concludes that the beliefs can be inferred from these all three constructs, but to change beliefs of learners, we need to make them explicit and incorporate them into writing instruction or curriculum design. Implications on how to further the research of beliefs as well as translating these findings into classroom pedagogies are also discussed. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of how the framework can be used to inform future research and classroom practices informed by writing beliefs identified in this study. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2017

abstract: This project investigated second language writing teachers’ writing assessment literacy by looking at teachers’ practices of electronic writing portfolios (e-WPs), as well as the sources that shape L2 writing teachers’ knowledge of e-WPs in the context of multilingual First-Year Composition (FYC) classrooms. By drawing on Borg’s (2003) theory of teacher cognition and Crusan, Plakans, and Gebril’s (2016) definition of assessment literacy, I define L2 teachers’ writing assessment literacy as teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and practices of a particular assessment tool, affected by institutional factors. While teachers are the main practitioners who help students create e-WPs (Hilzensauer & Buchberger, 2009), studies on how teachers actually incorporate e-WPs in classes and what sources may influence teachers’ knowledge of e-WPs, are scant. To fill in this gap, I analyzed data from sixteen teachers’ semi-structured interviews. Course syllabi were also collected to triangulate the interview data. The interview results indicated that 37.5 % of the teachers use departmental e-WPs with the goal of guiding students throughout their writing process. 43.7 % of the teachers do not actively use e-WPs and have students upload their writing projects only to meet the writing program’s requirement at the end of the semester. The remaining 18.7 % use an alternative platform other than the departmental e-WP platform, throughout the semester. Sources influencing teachers’ e-WP knowledge included teachers’ educational and work experience, technical difficulties in the e-WP platform, writing program policies and student reactions. The analysis of the course syllabi confirmed the interview results. Based on the findings, I argue that situated in the context of classroom assessment, institutional factors plus teachers’ insufficient knowledge of e-WPs limit the way teachers communicate with students, whose reactions cause teachers to resist e-WPs. Conversely, teachers’ sufficient knowledge of e-WPs enables them to balance the pressure from the institutional factors, generating positive reactions from the students. Students’ positive reactions encourage teachers to accept the departmental e-WPs or use similar alternative e-WP platforms. Pedagogical implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are reported to conclude the dissertation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Linguistics and Applied Linguistics 2018

Em vista das recentes mudanças que acarretaram a inclusão da criança de seis anos no ensino fundamental, fez-se necessária a reflexão sobre um ensino de ciências coerente com a criança dessa faixa etária. Os documentos governamentais apontam uma perspectiva sociocultural de ensino e aprendizagem dessa área do conhecimento, mas esclarecem pouco sobre como promover seu ensino no dia-a-dia escolar. O presente trabalho partiu do pressuposto de que a ciência possui uma cultura própria, com valores, linguagem, práticas, percepções, teorias, crenças, materiais e etc. Sob essa perspectiva ensinar ciências implica a valorização de diferentes práticas que possibilitem a introdução dos alunos nessa cultura e, nesse sentido, o ensino deve ir além da simples memorização de conceitos em busca de uma aprendizagem capaz de atribuir sentido ao que somos e aos acontecimentos que nos cercam. Trata-se, portanto, de um processo de Enculturação científica. Considerando que as crianças do primeiro ano constroem seus significados através das representações enativas, icônicas e simbólicas, essa pesquisa buscou compreender como as crianças do primeiro ano do ensino fundamental constroem o conhecimento mediante o ensino intencional de ciências sob a perspectiva da Enculturação científica. O presente trabalho envolveu um estudo qualitativo, realizado em uma classe de primeiro ano de uma escola particular de São Paulo, durante o ano letivo de 2010, buscando analisar os dados oriundos das diferentes formas de representação construídas pelas crianças sobre os temas de ciências no cotidiano escolar. Os dados apontam que a atribuição de significados envolve o uso articulado dos três diferentes tipos de representação, de acordo com o foco de interesse ou preocupação das crianças. Nesse sentido, a construção do conhecimento valendo-se das diferentes formas de representações bem como propiciando experiências que levem as crianças a refletir sobre assuntos científicos e suas consequências para a sociedade parecem ser os pressupostos centrais do ensino de ciências para o primeiro ano do ensino fundamental. / In light of recent changes that led to the inclusion of six years children in elementary school, it was necessary to reflect on science education consistent with the child at this age. Governmental documents indicate a sociocultural perspective of teaching and learning in this area of knowledge, but they reveal little about how to promote it on the schools routine. This study assumed that science has its own culture, values, language, practices, perceptions, theories, beliefs, materials and so on. From this perspective teaching science implies recognizing different practices that enable the introduction of this culture. In that sense, education must go beyond mere memorization of concepts in search of a learning that assigns meaning to what we are and the events that surround us. It is therefore a process of Scientific enculturation. Whereas children of the first year build their meanings through representations of enactive, iconic and symbolic, this research sought to understand how children in the first years of elementary school construct knowledge through intentional teaching of science from the perspective of Scientific enculturation. This study involved a qualitative research in a class of first graders of a private school in São Paulo during the school year of 2010, seeking to analyze the data from the different forms of representation built by children on science subjects in school environment. The data indicate that the attribution of meaning involves the use of three different articulated kinds of representation, according to the focus of interest or concern for children. In this sense, the construction of knowledge by drawing the different forms of representations as well as providing experiences that lead children to reflect on science and its consequences for society seem to be the central assumptions of science education for the first year of elementary school.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education in the Faculty of Education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / The research question that guided this doctoral study is: How do pre-entry academic and non-academic factors influence teacher education students’ first-year experience and academic performance? The study was designed within the qualitative research paradigm and employed a case study strategy to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative approach included a questionnaire that was completed by 195 respondents. The qualitative data was obtained from one-on-one and focus-group interviews with eight participants that were purposively selected. The conceptual framework developed for this enquiry took into consideration the significance of student diversity in understanding first-year experience and thus employed concepts from two sociological models, Tinto’s (1975; 1993) integration model (social and academic integration) and Bourdieu’s (1984; 1990) theoretical tools of capital, habitus and field. Six key themes emerged from the data: determination, self-reliance, fitting-in, out-of-habitus experience, positioning oneself to succeed and challenges. The unequal distribution of economic, social and cultural capital created disparities between students’ habitus and schooling experiences which influenced the way they integrated into their first year at university. The study revealed that more mature students than school-leavers and gap-students are entering higher education. Further, the majority of first-year students are unable to fund their studies and source external funding or engage in part-time employment. Students pursued financial aid before focusing on academic activities. Engagement in the social domain remained marginal. Students’ determination to change their economic circumstances was the primary factor that influenced their attitudes and actions at university. Higher education needs to consider student diversity, financial constraints of disadvantaged students, first-year curriculum planning and delivery, and the high cost of university studies. It needs to move away from viewing entering students from a deficit model, to capitalise on their qualities of determination, optimism, enthusiasm and openness to learning, thereby creating an inclusive first-year experience that could encourage retention and student success.