The thesis covers the subject about challenges in the multilingual classroom. How the pupils' education works in regards to the teachers’ perspective is the focus for this thesis. The purpose of the thesis is to examine how four primary school teachers view the teaching in the multilingual classroom. The thesis has a qualitative research approach where the method choice is semi-structured interviews with the primary teachers. Four interviews where conducted with primary teachers with proper and relevant education for the selected grade.   The data were analysed by a qualitative content-analysis. The different title in the background section constitutes this thesis theme. The theoretical frame of the thesis is the sociocultural perspective with focus on Vygotskijs theory about teaching. This study builds upon the perspective that teaching is an interaction between people and that the language is seen as a tool to gain knowledge.  The result of the thesis shows that the multilingual classroom increases the awareness of the primary teachers concerning clear instructions and explaining the tasks in different ways. The primary teacher treats every individual in the classroom from his or her former experience, knowledge and language. Furthermore the thesis shows the importance of a good relation with the native language teacher. A good cooperation with the native language teacher increases the language development for the multilingual pupils. For example using the same books but in different languages showed better language development. The result of the thesis also shows that a cooperation between the home and the multilingual pupils' guardians do not differ from the cooperation with other guardians, but it shows in this thesis the importance of having a regularly and mutual cooperation. / Studien behandlar ämnet det flerspråkiga klassrummet. Hur elevernas undervisning fungerar utifrån lärarens perspektiv är fokus i denna studie. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur fyra grundlärare i förskoleklass till årskurs tre ser på lärandet i det flerspråkiga klassrummet. Studien har en kvalitativ forskningsansats där metodvalet är semistrukturerade intervjuer av grundlärare i de aktuella årskurserna. Fyra intervjuer genomfördes med grundlärare med behörighet i förskoleklassen till årskurs tre. Datamaterialet analyserades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. De olika rubrikerna i bakgrunden utgör denna studies teman. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt är det sociokulturella perspektivet med utgångspunkt i Vygotskijs teori om lärande. Denna studie bygger på perspektivet att lärandet sker i samspel med andra samt att språket betraktas som ett redskap för att tillägna sig kunskap.  Resultatet visar att grundlärare anser att flerspråkiga elever i klassrummet ökar deras medvetenhet om att vara tydliga med instruktioner och förklaringar på olika sätt. Grundlärarna bemöter varje individ i klassrummet utifrån dess tidigare erfarenheter, kunskapsnivå och språk. Vidare framkommer i resultatet betydelsen av en god kontakt med modersmålsläraren. Ett samarbete med modersmålslärare gynnar språkutvecklingen för de flerspråkiga eleverna, där arbete med samma texter sker både hos modersmålsläraren och i klassen. Resultatet av studien visar även att samverkan mellan hem och skolan med flerspråkiga elevers vårdnadshavare inte skiljer sig från samverkan med övriga föräldrar, men det framkommer i denna studie att det är betydelsefullt att ha ett regelbundet samarbete.

International and local guidelines for designing distance education materials advise designers to use feedback from students in the redesign of their materials. This study is a response to the researcher’s failed attempt to elicit critical feedback from some of her students. It therefore sets out to devise a framework for a critical pedagogic analysis of distance learning materials designed for South African teacher education programmes. It draws on theorisations of pedagogy, principally from the work of the sociologist of education Basil Bernstein and the applied linguist Suresh Canagarajah, theorisations of mediation, originating in the work of Lev Vygotsky, and theorisations of subjectivity. It also draws on international and local conceptualisations of a knowledge base for teacher education. In the analysis of the selection and organisation of knowledge on the page, the study draws on Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics and the field of social semiotics to uncover the positions constructed for readers as students and as teachers in each multimodal design. A pedagogic analysis of distance education materials for pre-service or in-service teachers responds to a series of questions: What elements of a knowledge base for teacher education do designers foreground and background? What is the orientation of the materials to the relationship between knowledge and practice? How is knowledge mediated through in-text activities, pedagogic episodes and scaffolded readings? What roles do linguistic and visual design choices play in the mediation of knowledge? A critical pedagogic analysis interrogates the subject positions that the multimodal designs constitute for ideal readers as students and as teachers. In the study, all of these questions frame a detailed analysis of three sets of materials designed for South African teacher education programmes and, finally, a critical reflection on materials for which the researcher was the principal designer. The study concludes that a critical pedagogic analysis affords designers and evaluators the critical distance needed for evaluating the mediation of knowledge(s) and the constitution of readers’ subjectivities in teacher education materials. As an alternative (or in some circumstances, as an addition) to reader feedback it has the potential to inform redesigning for the original local context(s) of use or reversioning for use in broader regional or global contexts.

Student motivation is a significant concept as school teachers need to be able to mobilise students to work towards success in examinations. This thesis investigated the impact of teachers' behaviours on students' motivation and examination performance and how these behaviours could be adapted to suit the needs of students. A systematic review of the literature examined how secondary school teachers use motivational strategies in respect of student academic assessment, performance and attainment. Six studies were included in the review and showed both the positive and negative impacts of teacher behaviour on students' academic performance. The review highlighted a need for further research on teachers' knowledge of the impact of their behaviours on student motivation. An empirical study was completed which engaged high school teachers as participants, affording the opportunity to reflect on their current practice from feedback from their students. The research progressed through 3 phases: focus group of six teachers teaching high stakes examination programmes to students age 14-16 (English GCSEs); 10 interviews with students selected from each teacher's classes; and a second focus group re-convening the teachers. The research found a link between what students perceived to be motivational and the changes that teachers were able to envisage for future practice, indicating that teachers were able to learn from their students. The implications for educational psychologist practice and future research are discussed. Finally, the thesis concludes with a reflection of the dissemination of the above pieces of research. Dissemination focussed on offering the findings to schools and using methods of consultation and collaboration to integrate findings in to school practice.

The thesis explores the place of culture in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). The study originally set out to investigate the ways in which teachers understand culture and deal with it in their teaching of English. A survey of teachers found that while the teachers had sophisticated understandings about culture and its relationship with language at a general level, they did not have clear understandings about how cultural teaching can be enacted in the classroom. This conundrum was also evident in the literature on teaching culture in TESOL. An extensive survey of the literature found that while there are a number of different perspectives on how culture can be understood and dealt with in TESOL, none of these provide a comprehensive basis for the understandings teachers need for the practicalities of teaching. The focus of the study shifted from an investigation of professional development to the articulation of a conceptual framework to inform teachers in the way they can manage the teaching of culture. The framework draws on some significant insights of one of the perspectives in the literature, Intercultural Language Teaching, as well as some insights from other perspectives. The framework identifies dimensions in which teachers need to understand how culture can be manifest and managed in TESOL. For each dimension a number of factors on which decisions need to be made are identified. The framework also identifies a number of principles to guide teachers in their decision-making about the teaching culture. The potential of the framework to inform the teaching of English to adult immigrants in Australia, as well as students studying English in a university in Vietnam is explored. The capacity of the framework to inform TESOL teacher education, research and theory building is also evaluated.

Chapter 1 introduces the aims and objectives of the study. It is followed by an analysis of the present situation at the Hanoi Foreign Language Teachers College and the problems encountered by teachers and administrators in ensuring the maximum efficiency of the EFL programme. The Report continues by asking a number of pertinent questions about the methodology and techniques used in the teaching of reading. This, in turn, is linked with theoretical considerations which the writer examines at some length taking into account numerous issues about language processing, cognition, expectation and motivation, comprehending, discourse analysis, text cohesion and so on. Attention is then focused on the reader and the environment in which he operates. In addition the reading lesson comes under scrutiny and procedures, as well as material selection and teaching systems are discussed. Finally the writer attempts to make suggestions to his colleagues in the EFL field based on his own experience and convictions.

This study is a review of the researcher's deliberate strategies for incorporating Latino culture into the teaching of a Spanish language course. The researcher developed, presented and assessed a curriculum unit designed to examine the social and educational problems of Latinos, the history of Latin America, the effects of discrimination and inequality in society, and the struggle by Latinos to succeed and gain respect in mainstream America. While the results from this initial study were mixed, the qualitative data collected indicated that an integration of language and social studies curricula provides students with a more comprehensive perspective on the meaning of culture. / Graduation date: 1997

This study was undertaken in the Johannesburg South district (D11). Primary school language teachers in this district (D11) were invited to participate in this study by means of a questionnaire. This study investigated which kind of teaching methods teachers are currently using to develop and enhance critical thinking skills of ESL learners in language classrooms. Teachers' knowledge of Blooms' Taxonomy of cognitive objectives and how to use this taxonomy to develop ESL learners' critical thinking skills were also scrutinized. Since many ESL learners' language proficiency in English is also limited the responses of the teachers indicated that this could have a negative influence on their critical thinking development. This study accentuates the need for the use of a variety of teaching methods to enhance ESL learners' critical thinking skills in language in the Johannesburg South District (D11). / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M.A.)(Information Science)--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Summaries in Afrikaans and English. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-104).

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education