Thesis (M. (Communication Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to aid in understanding the relationship between current Reading report card grading practices and standards-based state standardized testing results in Reading and factors associated with the alignment of this relationship. Report card and Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) data for 2004 were collected for 1064 third grade students in nine schools of one feeder pattern in Florida's Miami-Dade County Public Schools. A Third Grade Teacher Questionnaire was administered to 48 Reading teachers. The questionnaire contained items relating to teachers' education, teaching experience, grading practices, and beliefs about the FCAT, instructional Reading activities, methods, and materials. Findings of this study support a strong relationship between report card grades and FCAT Reading achievement levels. However, individual school correlational analysis showed significant differences among schools' alignment measures. Higher teacher alignment between grades and FCAT levels was associated with teachers spending more time on individualized methods of Reading instruction and to teachers feeling there was not enough time to teach and help individual students. Lower teacher alignment of grades and achievement levels was associated with teachers taking homework into account in the final Reading grade. Teacher alignment of grades and achievement levels was not associated with teacher beliefs concerning the FCAT, instructional activities in Reading and Language Arts, the Reading program used, the model of delivery of the Reading program, instruction or type of instructional planning done by the teachers. This study highlights the need for further investigations related to determining additional teacher factors that may affect the alignment relationship between report card grades and standards-based state standardized testing results.

This study problematizes the literacy practices in a fourth grade suburban classroom. Drawing on sociocultural and poststructural theories of language and literacy, this study examines the teacher-student interactions and student-student interactions within classroom literacy events. This study argues for the need for progressive pedagogy as it examines how the very practices that are implemented to support student difference also serve to marginalize opportunities for student participation within the dominant discourses that shape the classroom culture. Using Fairclough's three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1992, 1995), this study examines the interactions through moment-by-moment analysis of critical moments and contrastive cases to gain perspective on how students' literacy identities were constructed in this classroom. The use of critical discourse analysis helped to make visible both the dominant discourses that were operating in the classroom and how they contributed to the shaping of student literacy identities. The use of critical moments as a unit of analysis in this study arose from the tensions that occurred within the analysis of many literacy events, between the teachers and 3 focal students that were considered to be struggling literacy learners within the classroom. The critical moments also highlighted the tensions that occurred between the students and the dominant discourses of educational reform and differentiated instruction as they were enacted through literacy practices and teacher-student interactions. This tension, enacted as resistance, positioned the students as agentic in the construction of their own literacy identities rather than subject to the teacher's construction of them as struggling literacy learners and also made visible how the students contributed to the knowledge of what counted as literacy in this culture. Major themes stood out as the critical moments were cross-viewed, which revealed the issues of authority, agency, choice, competition, and differentiated instruction as major constructs within and across the interactions. This study demonstrates how students' resistance to the discourses disrupted the ideologies, particularly within the discourse of differentiated instruction as students agentically constructed their literacy identities in opposition to what counted as literacy.

Drawing on three cases from a larger (N=169) longitudinal study of student writing development, this article shows how STEM students “rewrote” disciplines to suit their writerly purposes as they moved through their undergraduate years. Students made it clear that the institutional dimensions of disciplines, visible in administrative units or departments that control resources and records, remained visible in their mental landscapes, but they had a much more flexible view of the epistemological dimensions of disciplines. Rather than entering a field as novices aiming to emulate the writing of its experts, they drew on the intellectual resources of multiple disciplines in order to carry out their own projects. The goals and choices of these students suggest that the term new disciplinarity has implications for the ways WID is conceptualized. As theorized by Markovitch and Shinn (2011, 2012), new disciplinarity posits elasticity as a central feature of disciplines, calls the spaces between disciplines borderlands, and affirms the dynamic nature of projects and borderlands with the term temporality. As such, new disciplinarity offers terms and a theoretical framework that conceptualize the intellectual negotiations of students.

No description available.

With the increased number of English learners in the United States, teacher candidates need to be prepared to address their needs in their future classrooms. Teacher preparation programs around the nation are continuously exploring solutions to better develop teacher candidates' skills. Simultaneously, the rise in popularity of online education has pushed universities to identify and integrate technology tools which best promote students' learning. This study, connecting both challenges, aims to identify which type of interactivity promoted by technology, in an undergraduate online teaching English for speakers of other languages (TESOL) course, most benefits pre-service teachers in their ability to apply newly gained knowledge in practical situations. The types of interactivity studied were traditional, suggesting limited opportunities provided by the traditional setup of an online course; written, through Canvas discussion activities; and audiovisual, through Flipgrid activities. The participants, divided among three groups, were 103 undergraduate teacher-candidates enrolled in a TESOL online course. A repeated measures ANOVA was run to identify the differences of the over-time changes in teacher-candidates' application of EL instructional support practices between the three groups. A repeated measures ANCOVA was run to investigate potential differences of the over-time changes in teacher-candidates' application of EL instructional support practices between the groups exposed to written and audiovisual, after controlling for their activity scores. While the three groups have seen an improvement in scores, as the audiovisual group outperformed the traditional group, which outperformed the written group; treatment did not have any statistically significant effect. Sample size and mitigating factors (e.g., age, gender, prior experience with technology, motivation, persistence, courseload.) might have led to this result. This study provides more insights on the ability for technology to promote various types of interactivity and how beneficial they can be in teacher-candidates online courses or programs.

No description available.

This study investigated learner perceptions of correction in L2 (second language) pronunciation. Research indicates that L2 learners have a strong preference toward corrective feedback provided by the teacher and also favor peer feedback (Kaivanpanah et al., 2012). In addition, external feedback is shown to contribute to the development of internal feedback, or self-correction (Huang & Jia, 2016). Learners were also found to carry positive opinions towards explicit error correction, with culture and proficiency level influencing those opinions (Yang, 2016). The current study used a qualitative approach to investigate learner perceptions toward correction in L2 pronunciation and examine real-life correction instances through the learner lens. The study used secondary data consisting of video recordings of focus-group interviews and classroom interactions. The focus-group interactions were analyzed thematically, and Lyster and Ranta's (1997) framework was used to analyze classroom interactions. The analyses of both data sets and researcher field notes were further crossed to respond to the research question of how learners perceive correction in L2 pronunciation. It is hoped that this multidimensional look at corrective feedback in L2 pronunciation will not only educate teachers regarding the impact correction has in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classrooms but also raise awareness in L2 learners as to the role such feedback can have on their pronunciation learning.

The present study examined dual language (DL) teachers' beliefs and practices regarding effective second language instruction. DL teachers are expected to integrate language teaching and content instruction. However, balancing the two areas of instruction has been proved challenging. It has also been reported that bilingual educators lack pedagogical skills and hold incorrect beliefs about second language acquisition. Five DL educators participated in the study. Data about the teacher's beliefs were collected using semi-structured interviews, and data about their classroom practices were gathered from their teaching journals. Second semi-structured interviews were conducted to reveal the factors influencing the enactment of stated beliefs. The data were analyzed qualitatively using the template analysis with pre-determined themes. Findings showed that the participants' articulated beliefs about effective second language instruction were generally in alignment with current thinking in the field of second language pedagogy and suggested approaches to language instruction in the DL classrooms. The participants' reported practices were generally congruent with their beliefs, except for some specific strategies. School and classroom factors appeared to be the most significant supports and hindrances to the enactment of the teachers' beliefs. These results have the potential significance for teachers to encourage self-reflection. They also offer schools some insights into understanding the challenges DL teachers face and the types of supports they need for effective second language teaching. Based on the findings, teacher preparation programs could consider an approach to professional development that attends to the pedagogical beliefs of individual teachers.

With the importance of oral communication skills and digital literacy skills for 21st-century learners (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2006), there is an increasing tendency to incorporate technology in language learning and teaching. In this trend, PechaKucha Presentation (PKP), a unique, fast-paced format of giving presentations, has recently been advocated for its benefits in developing learners' oral communication skill in various contexts (Angelina, 2019; Coskun, 2017; Mabuan, 2017). This paper presented a study that explored seven international students' speaking and listening experiences with PKP activities while completing the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program prior to their undergraduate programs in a US university. The study adopted a phenomenological design with semi-structured interviews, artifacts, and observations. Colaizzi's (1978) data analysis framework was employed to provide a comprehensive description of the participants' speaking and listening experiences with PKP. Findings revealed that (1) participants experienced a connection between emotions regarding PK presentations and their English speaking skills; (2) participants described cognitive and metacognitive skill use and awareness due to PK presentations experiences; (3) participants perceived audience as an important factor in presentation decisions; (4) these EAP international students were aware of and critical of their English- speaking skills; (5) they preferred more time for pronunciation and to convey information; (6) EAP peers' pronunciation hindered meaning making; (7), PK meaning- making processes included listening, reading, viewing, and critiquing their peers' presentation performance. The study also offered several recommendations regarding the most practical teaching strategies that emerged from the findings of this research. Further implications that may inform EAP educators and EAP curriculum designers of oral communication skills for international students were also discussed.