The writing center provides individualized instructions for students to improve their writing. Though a lot of writing center research focuses on English as a Second Language (ESL) students, there is no study on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in mainland China context. This study attempts to bridge that research gap by examining writing center interaction and its succeeding influence on students’ revision. The study examines six writing center interactions by using conversation analysis to reveal interactional patterns. Students’ pre-session text and revised text are analyzed linguistically by adopting discourse analysis. Participants’ interpretations are compiled from interview data to provide their perceptions of the writing center. The findings that emerged from conversation analysis of tutorial transcriptions, discourse analysis of students’ writing, and the interview data for this study include: (1) In writing center interaction, the tutor is the dominant speaker while the student is the subordinate participant. (2) Institutional context, limited knowledge about students, and Chinese culture of learning affect the tutor-tutee interaction. (3) Issues covered in the interaction become the focus of students’ revision. (4) Lexicogrammatical issues are the focus of writing center interaction and students’ revision. (5) Students speak highly of the interaction and tutors’ help. This research provides a thorough description of the writing center interaction, its subsequent effects on students’ revision, and students’ perceptions on the interaction. The implications of this study include: (a) eliciting more information at the beginning of the interaction; (b) adopting flexible tutoring approach; (c) encouraging students to take active participation; and (d) providing training for tutors. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This study focused on the relationship between classroom interaction and small class teaching in a Hong Kong secondary school, an issue which has long been recognized in a range of international and local studies. The observation of one teacher teaching two S.1 classes of different class size (n=34 and n=23) and another teacher teaching two S.7 classes of different class size (n=23 and n=12) over a period of time has revealed key differences between teaching and learning in large and small classes. This study draws on both quantitative and qualitative data. The study includes a pilot case study which comprised of three-hour lesson observations in each of the two S.1 (grade 7) classrooms, an action research study which consisted of 20-hour lesson observations in each of my two S.7 classes (grade 13), interview with the S.1 (grade 7) teacher participant and a total of 15 students, writing from my S.7 students, and my own teacher journal reflections from my S.7 classes. Findings from both the case study and the action research reveal that students in the small classes have more opportunities for participation and classroom interaction after they were offered more group work, discussion, scaffolding and open-ended questions. It was found that small classes were more conducive to the fostering of dialogic teaching as well as the formation of communities of practice. Implications for pedagogy and further research are included. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.

No description available.

This study, undertaken in the classrooms of minority-language students in French-language schools in Montreal, aims to test Stern's (1990, 1992) proposal for integrating analytic and experiential teaching strategies in second language pedagogy. A related objective seeks to establish the pedagogical orientation of instructional practices during French language arts as being more analytically---or more experientially---focused and to describe the setting from the perspective of these culturally and linguistically diverse students for whom French is a second language. Research procedures entailed the implementation of an integrated activity---journal writing with differential feedback (form-focused, content-based, and a combination of form-focused and content-based)---in four Grade 5 classrooms (N = 112 in total) for approximately four months of one academic year. Twenty-four classroom observations that included coding with the COLT observation scheme and taking fieldnotes were also carried out, and individual interviews were conducted with students, teachers, and administrators. Throughout the study, the francophone students in the participating classrooms acted as a comparison group. The study demonstrated that minority-language students' home cultures and the potentially positive role of the mother tongue in second language learning were not well understood in this context of submersion. COLT findings and qualitative outcomes triangulated to reveal instructional practices that were more inclined towards an analytic than towards an experiential approach to teaching. For both groups of students, MANOVA results indicated no significant effects for quantity of production, accuracy, and overall effectiveness in the journal writing as a function of differential feedback; behavioural and attitudinal data proved helpful in the interpretation of these statistical outcomes. A qualitative analysis of various aspects of the journals' contents revealed that the activity had b

No description available.

This study examined the effects of cooperative learning combined with the philosophy of Challenged education on social skill and self concept development. The participants were sixth grade students from two different classrooms in a rural midwestern school district. One class was the control and the other the experimental group.During a nine week intervention the experimental group was involved with cooperative learning/Challenge Education while the control group maintained their usual schedule that did not include cooperative learning/Challenge Education. Previous to and following the intervention, the students' social skills were rated by themselves, their teachers, and their parents. In addition, the students rated their own academic and nonacademic self concepts. Measurement tools used were standardized assessment instruments.Two separate multivariate analysis of variance were computed: one for social skills and one for self concept. Following the social skills MANOVA simple interaction effects analyses were calculated followed by simple effects analysis. The results of the MANOVA revealed a significant interaction between time of testing and treatment when examining social skills. Significant interactions were found for parent ratings and teacher ratings. The students' ratings did not reveal a significant interaction. The simple effects analyses for teacher reports revealed the teachers' ratings of students' social skills differed on the pretest; however, the posttest did not reveal a significant difference between group's social skills. No effect were found on the self-concept scale. It was concluded that the intervention may not have produced the desired effects because students had attained only the awareness level of development according to the challenge education model. Therefore, further research using awareness as the outcome seems warranted. / Department of Educational Psychology

The ability related differences and the role of peer interaction in preschool children's planning skill on a sociocultural task was investigated. Shopping routes through a model grocery store were planned by 50 children ranging in age from 3 years, 2 months to 5 years, 11 months. There were 30 children with average ability (Differential Ability Scales GCA score 85-115) and 20 children with high ability (DAS scores above 120). All subjects planned a total of five shopping trips. The first and last trips were completed alone, while the three middle trips were either completed alone, with a same-ability peer, or with a mixed-ability peer.Data were analyzed with a series of multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) with a within-subjects factor representing the measures of planning skill across Lists 2, 3, and 4. Preschool-aged children did not differ in planning skill on the basis of cognitive ability at the onset of the task. Dyads planned more efficient routes than individuals and also employed a more mature item location strategy. Children of average ability improved in planning performance from List One to List Five regardless of the ability level of their partner during Lists 2, 3, and 4. High ability preschoolers performed equally well when working alone, with a peer of same ability, or with a peer of less ability.Dyads of average children working together engaged in arguments and disagreements concerning the task but planned less efficient routes than did dyads of high-ability children. Mixed-ability dyads and those of high ability peers planned more efficient routes but engaged in little discussion. Thus, average children working together may have experienced growth in social competence as a result of social conflict concerning the social problem solving task. Such advances were most likely minimal for children in mixed-ability and high ability dyads. Advances in social competence may be of primary importance for preschool aged children. Future research should seek to clarify the relationship between ability and peer interaction in an effort to identify the features of social interaction which are necessary for cognitive growth. / Department of Educational Psychology

This study focuses on the nature of scaffolding used by the Chinese student and teacher in a Chinese university English classroom located in Mainland China. Using the Vygotskian theory to analyze scaffolding events which occur during three transcripted lessons, it expands the present research on scaffolding. Previous research has predominantly utilized Wood, Bruner and Ross' (1976) six criteria to characterize the building and deconstructing of the scaffold by a tutor: 1) recruitment; 2) reduction in degrees of freedom; 3) direction maintenance; 4) marking critical features; 5) frustration control; and 6) demonstration. Many of these six criteria are utilized by the teacher within a lesson for scaffolding the students. This study, however, has shown that the teacher's scaffold is not the only scaffold that is built. Indeed, this study has shown that at any given moment in a lesson, many different layers of scaffolding are being built, which intertwine and overlap each other.Within the Chinese English classroom, it is more productive to discuss scaffolding in terms of layers, rather than only analyze Wood et al.'s (1976) strategies for building a scaffold. Four separate layers of scaffolding were discovered in the Chinese context. The layer one scaffold is where the teacher sets the backdrop for the lesson. She/He has planned the lesson, aware of what the students already know and lays down the foundation for it within the students' ZPD. Carrying out the work at this level involves creating intersubjectivity with the students and using prolepsis. The layer two scaffold occurs when students attend to the teacher's layer one scaffold and become mentally involved in the teacher's scaffold. Layer three involves two or more learners building and deconstructing scaffolds for each other. Finally, layer four shows the student actually building and deconstructing a scaffold for him/herself.This study discusses the strategies utilized by both the teacher and students in building a scaffold for other students and shows how these scaffolds are inter-related. In the conclusion, suggestions are made for native-English speaking teachers who are teaching in China concerning how to incorporate the findings of this study into their own teaching strategies. / Department of English

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 359-372). / Microfiche. / xii, 372 leaves, bound 29 cm