It is argued in this thesis that, contrary to much previous work on the subject, the history of English Studies in higher education is not best understood in terms of the emergence of a mature form of academic activity which has since continued to develop through time on the basis of the unity of its object (lq`English literature') and of its mode of study (lq`literary criticism'). Instead, this history examines the conditions which allowed the initial emergence, specification and delimitation of the new academic discipline of `English Language and Literature', and the sequence of subsequent institutional and discursive modifications and transformations which brought about substantial alterations to the field of study. Through a series of case studies of the English Association, the Newbolt Report, the Review of English Studies, and of the diverse tendencies which have characterised the discipline since the nineteen-forties, it is argued that `English Studies' must be analysed as an entity not having any single or consistent fixed centre. It is further shown that within the variable discursive and institutional articulations which have characterised English Studies as a field of activity, account must be taken of a much wider range of objects and relations than can be encompassed within `literature' and `criticism'; in fact, the discipline is shown to have been just as concerned with, for example, approved modes of communication, and Englishness. The thesis examines the specific historical conditions under which such objects and issues were brought into mutual relation through the establishment of full academic disciplinary status, the installation of an integrated career structure and professional norms, and the development of a distinctive documentary field, set of professional associations, range of pedagogic activities, and mechanism for the selection of students.

The complexity of healthcare is increasing due to new discoveries in the treatment of disease, the multiple pathologies of an ageing population and changes in working patterns and job roles. In addition, an increase in professional, regulatory and public scrutiny has led to revelations of poor care leading to preventable disability and death. Inquiries into sub-standard care have uncovered a number of professional lapses, in particular failures in teamwork and leadership. Medical undergraduates are future doctors. Their ability to work effectively within teams and to lead when necessary will therefore have a significant impact on the health of the population. In order to improve leadership and teamwork abilities we must be able to assess them. A literature review searching for a tool to assess teamwork and leadership in the medical undergraduate was carried out. As a consequence of an unsuccessful search, a tool was developed and evaluated, using data from existing tools and from a series of focus groups with medical undergraduates. The focus groups and an examination of the reasoning of assessment participants also informed a study on the justifications for failing to challenge poor performance by a more senior member of staff. The tool data showed adequate validity and reliability for formative assessments in a simulated environment. The focus groups and examination of reasoning highlighted the continued existence of the medical hierarchy, with steep authority gradients. This tool can be used in formative assessments, but further research is required before it is used outside the simulated environment and consideration must be given to psychometrics, feasibility and cost. The teaching and assessment of teamwork and leadership, should be given more time in the undergraduate curriculum and medical schools, regulatory bodies, deaneries and trusts should collaborate on minimising the unprofessional behaviours of senior healthcare personnel.

This PhD thesis explores the experiences of the increasing number of Chinese undergraduate students located within the UK higher education system. In order to ensure a positive learning experience for these students, and to facilitate the development of their confidence and independence in learning, it is essential that the particular needs of the Chinese students are fully understood and addressed. This thesis is premised on the assumption that students‘ own perceptions of their needs are central to this task. The study contributes to the literature on international undergraduate students‘ experience within the UK. It develops an analytical framework based upon the Chinese 'contexts of origin‘ of these students, their UK 'contexts of destination‘ and the 'institutional learning contexts‘. The framework as outlined in the chapters comprising Part 1 views the mediation of cultural difference as central to the resolution of academic challenges faced by Chinese students. Within this framework the 'contexts of origin‘ are understood with reference to Chinese geopolitical and geo-economic environments, Chinese traditions and education values, and the Chinese education system; the UK 'contexts of destination‘ are elaborated in terms of the development of UK higher education, the internationalisation and marketisation of UK higher education, and the literature on international students‘ overall experience; finally, the 'institutional learning contexts‘ involve an examination of the challenges posed by the academic conventions of UK higher education and of the coping strategies developed by the students. As outlined in Part 2, the study is based on semi-structured interviews and autobiographical accounts of 18 Chinese undergraduate students in an English university. Following from a discussion of the methodology employed, Part 3 provides an analysis of the evidence gathered in the course of the study. This analysis is organized around three interconnected themes: 'communities of learning‘, 'learning across language boundaries‘, and 'becoming an independent learner‘. These themes emerged from both the development of the analytical framework and from the initial round of data analysis. The study argues that the challenges faced by Chinese undergraduate students within the UK are culturally, socially and linguistically constituted and cannot therefore be understood simply as technical and narrowly study-related concerns. Their development as independent learners is formed by their motivation to learn and a wide range of capabilities acquired during their study in the UK. Part 4, which comprises the concluding chapter of the thesis, draws out some wider implications of the study for the education of overseas students within the UK higher education system. These include stronger institutional and departmental support, enhanced professional awareness and practice to facilitate transition, and the creation of a social space for cultural mediation – a 'third place‘ – within which to negotiate common understandings and practices. Throughout, the emphasis is on the support needs of overseas students as defined and understood by the students themselves and as interpreted by a researcher who is himself a Chinese student studying within the UK higher education system.

he persistent patterns of under-representation of certain social groups at higher education (HE) identified that the current strategies used as part of the widening participation agenda required revising. Outreach activities are the main strategy used by the widening participation agenda to address the under-representation of certain groups of young people such asthose from disadvantaged backgrounds at HE. owever, a shortage of robust evidence made it difficult to determine the actual mpact and effectiveness of these outreach activities. This thesis addressed this gap n knowledge by establishing robust approaches to designing and evaluating outreach activities. To achieve this, a different perspective was taken; this hesisdemonstrated howpsychology can improve the design and evaluation of outreach activities. The use of psychological theories such as cognitive behavioural herapy and attribution theory were demonstrated indevising the outreach ntervention ThinkSmart as being valuable for outreach activities. The evaluationof ThinkSmart showed a short-term practical significance, thus the intervention did have an impact on the recipients, this however, was not sustained. To support the evaluation of ThinkSmart a measure of intention to engage with HE was devised and validated, 'Students Intentions Towards University' (SITU) due to one not currently existing in the literature, despite progression to HE being a key outcome for outreach activities. To understand the effectiveness of ThinkSmart, unique to the thesis a process evaluation was undertaken to explore the implementation process. The approach showed that the components required for behavioural change were ignificantly under implemented, which impacted on the overall success of ThinkSmart explaining to some degree the small short-term gains of recipients. inally to support the development of well-designed interventions to impact on the evident disparities in the patterns of participation in HE, as well as providing a ramework for further research in this area, an ecological model of educational progression was devised. The model established the importance of the individual in understanding how best to address the objective of the widening participation; as this an explain why despite their background young people can achieve. Therefore in summary outreach activities need to consider the individual but in light of the contextual factors presented in the model. This thesis hasdemonstrated that it is important to evaluate outreach activities robustly and to do so principles ofpsychology should be incorporated to improve the design and evaluation of outreach activities, to positively impact on the likelihood of non-traditional students, i.e. those from disadvantaged backgrounds engaging with HE, addressing the widening participation agenda objectives.

This study adopted an interpretive qualitative approach, using narrative inquiry to understand the experiences of early career physical education (PE) teachers who took ‘risks’ during their training year, and who had been teaching in schools. Narrative interviews were conducted with nine PE teachers who had engaged with a Risk-Taking Professional Development Programme (PDP) during their training year and who had been teaching for between two months and five years. Interviews explored the meanings, definitions and influences that participants ascribed to risk taking from their memories of the training year and once they began teaching in schools. The focus of the study emerged because in my role as a PE teacher trainer, I designed the Risk-Taking PDP to challenge trainee PE teachers to reflect critically upon their teaching and pupil learning and, move beyond their comfortable practices. Inspiration was taken from the Office for Standards in Education outstanding descriptor at that time, to ‘Take risks when trying to make teaching interesting, be able to deal with the unexpected and grab the moment’ (Ofsted, 2008, p. 1). The Risk-Taking PDP became a core component of the PE Teacher Training course in one UK Higher Education Institution (HEI) and was delivered to over 100 PE trainee teachers. An interpretive analysis located overlapping and interlocking themes which closely represented illuminative epiphanies (Denzin, 2001). Findings revealed that risk-taking became a central component of teachers’ practice during the training year. It encouraged critical reflection and developed trainee confidence. Epiphanic moments experienced by participants highlighted that adaptation, negotiation and resilience formed over time as crucial aspects of risk-taking. Once qualified and teaching in schools, key influences affected PE teachers’ willingness to take risks. These included; performativity measures, time, pupil behaviour and the influence of the subject community. Risk-taking was found to support personal and professional growth and, when influences in schools were positive, engagement with innovation and creativity continued. This led to further growth and learning for both teachers and pupils. This study provides new knowledge to inform the continuation of the Risk-Taking PDP and offers new insights for PE Initial Teacher Education and Training (ITET) practices. Furthermore, this study reaffirms the views of Clandinin and Connelly (2000) who argue for narrative being a three-dimensional space where temporality, sociality and place (context) influence thinking and learning and also, those of Dewey (1938) where experience and learning is transactional and always in relation to others and the social context. This study proposes a fourth dimension to risk-taking, a visional dimension where teachers visualise an ‘ideal’ situation and, is represented through the abstract conceptualisation of risk-taking holding a four-dimensional metaphorical space. This is represented through a geometrical shape, the Tesseract. This study suggests that the Tesseract Model should be utilised in schools to support early career teacher professional development, build resilience and encourage collaborative engagement in subject communities. Likewise, insights from a methodological approach, of narrative inquiry, that has seen a limited application in the context of PE provides a different and invaluable viewpoint in positioning the researchers’ and participants’ stories centrally.

Advancing clinical reasoning skills is one of the main outcomes of postgraduate master's level (M-level) programmes approved by the Musculoskeletal Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (MACP). While, the outcomes of these programmes were investigated in multiple retrospective studies, there is a limited understanding of the learning culture that drives change. Thus, the aim was to examine the learning culture of an MACP approved programme to capture the sociocultural mediators that advanced clinical reasoning skills. An empirical longitudinal mixed-methods theory-seeking case study was conducted over a period of 18 months. Participants included seven educators and six students. Data analysis was premised on the methods of a Constructivist Grounded Theory. Gradual and progressive advancement of clinical reasoning skills was identified. A model of a culture of convergence and synergy was constructed to conceptualise the relationship between students, the programme and the wider context. It demonstrates the value of convergence and synergy in supporting professional learning. This novel conceptual understanding of advancing clinical reasoning through M-level education suggest that pedagogues need to actively seek to create a culture convergence and synergy to achieving successful learning outcomes. The context-bounded knowledge provided in the thesis aid pedagogues to better design M-level curriculums.

The National Student Survey (NSS) reveals that in the UK Higher Education students are generally dissatisfied with course assessment and feedback processes. This thesis investigates and evaluates a range of assessment and feedback strategies used during Initial Teacher Training (ITT) teaching practice. The views of trainee teachers, school based tutors and university based tutors with regard to the effectiveness of these strategies are also evaluated. A cross sectional research design employing questionnaires, interviews and a focus group interview was used to obtain and analyse data. The findings show that overall, the stakeholders in this study are satisfied with the assessment processes used to assess trainee teachers on teaching practice. These research findings are contrary to the NSS data. Insights gained contribute to the knowedge of the assessment of ITT trainees. This thesis indicates why the assessment strategies used on teaching practice are effective. The lesson observation and subsequent discursive feedback and action point setting is regarded as the most effective assessment strategy. Analysis of the research data suggests that lesson observation and feedback is effective because it provides an authentic assessment experience. The thesis argues that authentic assessment strategies have a positive impact on student experience.

This thesis reports on a longitudinal qualitative study of the L2 motivational systems of a group of South Korean university students. The study adopts a complex dynamics system approach to the collection and analysis of data, and develops an original three-level model of context to investigate the interaction of elements within the learners’ motivational systems and to track how these interactions led to perceptible changes in these systems over the course of the research. The study highlights the complex, dynamic nature of L2 motivation and the necessity of including context as a key part of the L2 motivational system. It further calls into question traditional conceptions of autonomy in the field and the general applicability of some current concepts in L2 motivation. In addition, it emphasizes the importance of non-quantitative approaches in illuminating the motivational processes at work within individuals. On the basis of these findings, the thesis calls for the general incorporation of complexity perspectives in L2 motivation research and for language pedagogy to incorporate the insights gained from such studies to enhance the classroom environments and learners’ investment in language learning.

The purpose of this research is to explore CSCL as an instructional model for developing the skills and competencies required in the „knowledge society‟ and to suggest under what conditions CSCL might be effective. To this end, an in-depth investigation of students‟ collaborative interaction patterns, their perceptions of their learning and the variables impacting on their interaction was conducted. The four contexts of study looked at alternative communication tools, collaborative task types and distance versus campus modes in South Korea and the UK. Data collection from these diverse contexts adopted a mixed methodology. Data analysis initially focused on the first two case studies and was then extended across the remaining contexts which explored alternative tasks and media. Students‟ collaboration patterns indicated that students input more effort on doing the work for which they were individually accountable rather than toward a group effort. The process of negotiating meaning was found to be weak in asynchronous online discussion and the most difficult aspect of group project tasks for students. Students‟ socio-emotional aspects also influenced collaboration patterns. Nevertheless, students‟ perceptual data indicated that they believed CSCL had diverse learning merits. In conclusion, some conditions for effective CSCL design were suggested.

Data-Driven Learning (DDL), an approach developed by Tim Johns, is an exploratory learning methodology which enables students to analyze the lexical and grammatical patterns of key words in various authentic contexts, organized into a series of concordance lines. It is a learner-centered approach that encourages students to work autonomously, engaging in what Johns calls ‘discovery learning’. DDL has proven itself to be an effective tool for advanced students to further improve the depth of their linguistic knowledge, but the wider possibilities to which DDL might be applied have been sparsely researched. In this study, I investigate the efficacy of DDL as a core component of two communication-oriented English language learning courses at a Japanese university. The courses couple traditional concordance line analysis with communicative activities. I call this novel teaching methodology ‘Communicative Data-Driven Learning’. This study is a form of action research, which involves actively reflecting upon and revising approaches at every stage, from planning, through execution, to observing results. The data was collected in two years: in 2014 and 2015. The results demonstrate that Communicative DDL has immense potential for developing students’ language competencies, especially with respect to their fluency and confidence when communicating in English.