Kelsey Wort's Masters thesis

[Abstract]: Learner autonomy in language learning has been described as the ability to take charge of one’s own learning by determining the objectives, defining the contents and progressions, selecting methods and techniques to be used, monitoring the procedure of acquisition and evaluating what has been acquired (Holec, 1979). Few would doubt that learner autonomy in language learning is a positive thing and can lead to learners who are more proficient in the target language. These sentiments are echoed in many language programs, which have as their explicitly stated goal the development of autonomous, self-directed learners. This project is a pilot study with the aim of investigating one such program: the Languages Other Than English (LOTE) (Indonesian) program at a regional public high school.Taking a collective case study approach this investigation sought to determine two LOTE (Indonesian) learners’ and their teacher’s beliefs about roles and responsibilities in the language learning process and how these beliefs are translated into their teaching and learning behaviour. Prior to any interventions aimed at facilitating the transfer of responsibility for the management of the learning process from the teacher to the learner, it is essential to access learners’ and teachers’ beliefs and attitudes as these have a profound impact on their learning and teaching behaviour and erroneous beliefs may lead to less effective approaches to learning, ultimately impacting on learners’ success in language learning (Horwitz, 1987).The data, collected through structured interviews and classroom observations, suggest that the subjects simultaneously exhibit characteristics consistent with and in contradiction to the profiles of autonomous learners and of a teacher who engages in pedagogy aimed at the development of autonomous learners. The two LOTE learners’ beliefs, and their learning behaviour, suggest that they defer responsibility to the teacher for the technical aspects of their learning, such as identifying learning objectives and topics, selecting learning activities and resources. On the other hand, through their expressed beliefs, and from the observed lessons, it appears that the two learners accept some level responsibility for reflecting and evaluating their learning and fully accept responsibility for maintaining their interest and motivations in learning the LOTE. While the LOTE learners defer responsibility for the technical aspects of their learning to their LOTE teacher, the LOTE teacher herself defers responsibility to the LOTE syllabus. However, the LOTE teacher was observediiiworking with learners, helping them to evaluate and reflect upon their learning and maintaining their interest and motivation in learning the LOTE.Recommendations for pedagogy to promote the development of learner autonomy and further research are presented.

This dissertation conducts a comprehensive examination of the study of Asian languages in two Australian states, taking into consideration the broad range of people and variables which impact on the language-in-education ecology. These findings are intended to enhance the development of language-in-education policy, planning and implementation in Australia. In order to incorporate a number of perspectives in the language-in-education ecology, interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders, school administrators, LOTE (Languages Other Than English) coordinators and LOTE teachers, from all three education systems – government, independent and Catholic (31 individuals), across two states – Victoria and New South Wales. Questionnaires were also completed by 464 senior secondary students who were studying an Asian language. Along with the use of supporting data (for example, government reports and newspaper discourse analysis), the interview and questionnaire data was analysed thematically, as well as through the use of descriptive statistics.

[Abstract]: Learner autonomy in language learning has been described as the ability to take charge of one’s own learning by determining the objectives, defining the contents and progressions, selecting methods and techniques to be used, monitoring the procedure of acquisition and evaluating what has been acquired (Holec, 1979). Few would doubt that learner autonomy in language learning is a positive thing and can lead to learners who are more proficient in the target language. These sentiments are echoed in many language programs, which have as their explicitly stated goal the development of autonomous, self-directed learners. This project is a pilot study with the aim of investigating one such program: the Languages Other Than English (LOTE) (Indonesian) program at a regional public high school.Taking a collective case study approach this investigation sought to determine two LOTE (Indonesian) learners’ and their teacher’s beliefs about roles and responsibilities in the language learning process and how these beliefs are translated into their teaching and learning behaviour. Prior to any interventions aimed at facilitating the transfer of responsibility for the management of the learning process from the teacher to the learner, it is essential to access learners’ and teachers’ beliefs and attitudes as these have a profound impact on their learning and teaching behaviour and erroneous beliefs may lead to less effective approaches to learning, ultimately impacting on learners’ success in language learning (Horwitz, 1987).The data, collected through structured interviews and classroom observations, suggest that the subjects simultaneously exhibit characteristics consistent with and in contradiction to the profiles of autonomous learners and of a teacher who engages in pedagogy aimed at the development of autonomous learners. The two LOTE learners’ beliefs, and their learning behaviour, suggest that they defer responsibility to the teacher for the technical aspects of their learning, such as identifying learning objectives and topics, selecting learning activities and resources. On the other hand, through their expressed beliefs, and from the observed lessons, it appears that the two learners accept some level responsibility for reflecting and evaluating their learning and fully accept responsibility for maintaining their interest and motivations in learning the LOTE. While the LOTE learners defer responsibility for the technical aspects of their learning to their LOTE teacher, the LOTE teacher herself defers responsibility to the LOTE syllabus. However, the LOTE teacher was observediiiworking with learners, helping them to evaluate and reflect upon their learning and maintaining their interest and motivation in learning the LOTE.Recommendations for pedagogy to promote the development of learner autonomy and further research are presented.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção, Florianópolis, 2010 / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-25T04:16:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 284254.pdf: 811377 bytes, checksum: 8bcc424ed5fdd32a50e501be02fe295e (MD5) / Neste trabalho é proposto um modelo de otimização para o problema de localização de instalações, alocação de demanda e operação de estoque em redes dinâmicas onde parte dos arcos desta rede está sujeita a interrupções que podem ocorrer segundo probabilidades conhecidas, respeitando um processo Markoviano. O modelo é concebido com o objetivo de integrar, numa mesma abordagem, decisões estratégicas (onde localizar) e decisões operacionais (como operar) visando proporcionar a minimização dos custos do sistema, ao mesmo tempo em que se estabelece nível de serviço para atendimento à demanda. Para resolver este modelo é desenvolvida uma estratégia que utiliza programação dinâmica estocástica, simulação, o modelo clássico de lote econômico de compra e uma adaptação do algoritmo heurístico de Teitz & Bart. Tal estratégia é implementada em um programa de computador e testes computacionais são realizados com sucesso em um estudo de caso elaborado a partir de dados hipotéticos. Os resultados obtidos e as análises realizadas demonstram a factibilidade do modelo e a aplicabilidade da estratégia de solução.

Submitted by Cristiane Oliveira (cristiane.oliveira@fgv.br) on 2012-07-12T18:13:32Z No. of bitstreams: 2 1198202109.pdf: 8605455 bytes, checksum: 40f06f29c707795ae315640e6abc98b0 (MD5) 1198202111.pdf: 7535890 bytes, checksum: 6f1bbb675f7bd2bbdf76cd6b7db8adf2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia (suzinei.garcia@fgv.br) on 2012-07-12T18:51:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 1198202109.pdf: 8605455 bytes, checksum: 40f06f29c707795ae315640e6abc98b0 (MD5) 1198202111.pdf: 7535890 bytes, checksum: 6f1bbb675f7bd2bbdf76cd6b7db8adf2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-07-12T18:58:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 1198202109.pdf: 8605455 bytes, checksum: 40f06f29c707795ae315640e6abc98b0 (MD5) 1198202111.pdf: 7535890 bytes, checksum: 6f1bbb675f7bd2bbdf76cd6b7db8adf2 (MD5) / Estuda a problema do dimensionamento de lote em sistemas de produção intermitente, considerando os diferentes estágios do fluxo de materiais em uma empresa incluindo compra, produção e distribuição. Apresenta diversos modelos de mínimo custo, baseados em pressupostos faz como: operação em condições ideais (modelo clássico); existência ou não de descontos de compra; abastecimento instantâneo ou contínuo; existência ou não de restrições na disponibilidade de recursos; demanda determinística ou probabilística; existência ou não de permissão de faltas; itens isolados, itens múltiplos ou agregados de itens; estágio início ou estágios múltiplos; etc.

Submitted by Cristiane Oliveira (cristiane.oliveira@fgv.br) on 2013-07-12T18:55:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 1198600276.pdf: 15892112 bytes, checksum: 6c398cb2fbf9b319b77e736d0d0880c0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia (suzinei.garcia@fgv.br) on 2013-07-12T19:17:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 1198600276.pdf: 15892112 bytes, checksum: 6c398cb2fbf9b319b77e736d0d0880c0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-07-12T19:51:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1198600276.pdf: 15892112 bytes, checksum: 6c398cb2fbf9b319b77e736d0d0880c0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1984 / Trata da área de influência de lojas de atacado cash e carry, traçamdo uma analogia com a área de influência do varejo de supermercados. Tenta ainda encontrar uma relação entre o valor da compra e a distância percorrida pelo cliente, buscando subsídios no lote econômico de compra

This degree project shows how four language teachers teach foreign languages with focus oncommunicative competence, and how their vision of teaching correspond to their reality in the classroom. How do they motivate the students in class and are the conditions good enough tohelp the teachers reach the national goals? A teacher’s vision is formed by his or her education and experiences. However, there are a number of factors which can help or hinder a teacher to reach his or her ideal teaching. Among these factors are the curriculum, the preknowledgeof the students and available technical resources. The method used in this thesis is qualitative interviews with two Australian and two Swedish foreign language teachers. This method was chosen in order to give the interviewees the possibility to speak more freely about their vision compared to their reality. The results show that there are more similarities than differences between Sweden and Australia when we look at the teachers’ ideals. There are anumber of factors why the teachers do not reach their ideals. The findings show that it is necessary with adequate teacher training to uphold qualitative language teaching corresponding to continuously changing curriculums. Moreover, the curriculum mentions communicative language teaching more and more today, but the teachers experience difficulties when teaching and evaluating communicative competence. Another important issue is the lack of money and time for starting and maintaining international exchanges.

<p>The writing centers created to serve predominately white institutions (PWIs) are not designed to meet the needs of Indigenous writers. Despite ostensible moves towards equity and social justice, Indigenous peoples often remained overlooked in writing center studies, partly due to the lack of attention paid to centers in Indigenous-serving institutions. <em>Weaving Centers of Resistance</em> responds to this gap by mapping the writing centers and tutoring centers at Indigenous serving institutions, investigating how tutoring pedagogy for writing is adapted in these contexts, and developing recommendations for culturally relevant writing center pedagogy. The research was conducted in three stages: A survey designed to collect basic demographic information was sent to 33 Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs),  35 Native American-serving, Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs), and 13 Native Hawaiian-serving Institutions (NHSIs). From participants in the survey, 10 writing and tutoring center practitioners were recruited for two rounds of virtual interviews. Finally, two interview participants were recruited for virtual case study interviews. This dissertation is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter contextualizes this project in Indigenous movements towards rhetorical sovereignty set against composition’s implication in racist ideologies. The second chapter lays out the history of western colonial education, surveys Indigenous topics in writing center studies, and argues for decolonizing the writing center movement towards just pedagogies. The third chapter troubles empirical methodologies within writing center studies and discusses the methodologies and methods used for this study. The fourth chapter offers findings from the survey sent to Indigenous-serving institutions. The fifth chapter introduces the ten writing and tutoring center practitioners interviewed for this study. The sixth chapter reports on themes developed in qualitative coding of interviews. The final chapter synthesizes the findings, discusses limitations, and offers a path forward for writing center practitioners working with Indigenous peoples. A few of the key findings of this project are the prevalence of learning centers in Indigenous-serving institutions, the deeply intersectional challenges faced by Indigenous writers, and the importance of relationship for tutoring in Indigenous contexts. This work attempts to offer practitioners in Native educational contexts better tools to teach writing from Indigenous perspectives and provides scholars across humanities strategies for rethinking resistance to linguistic colonialism.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The purpose of this three-paper dissertation is to examine the effect of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework-informed use of social media on language learning through a meta-analysis and two mixed-method studies. The first paper is a meta-analysis that examines the overall effect of social media use on language learning and the factors that moderate the effect. The second paper is a mixed-method study to investigate the effect of the Community of Inquiry-informed use of Facebook discussion activities on English speaking. The third paper is a mixed-method study to examine the effect of the Community of Inquiry-informed use of Facebook discussion activities on English writing. The combined results expanded our understanding of the overall effect of the use of social media on language learning and the applicability of the CoI framework in social media platforms. Finally, the last chapter synthesized the findings across three papers and presented implications for research and practice. </p><p><br></p>