Thesis (MEd (Literacy and Language Ed))--University of South Australia, 1995

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2118. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-171).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1997. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M. Ed.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1998. / Bibliography: leaves 87-94.

Thesis (doctoral)--Joensuu Korkeakoulu, 1979. / Errata slip inserted. Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-223).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Wollongong, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: p. 181-193.

This dissertation describes a microethnographic study of the induction of preschool children into the practices of schooled literacy at an ex-Natal Education Department, Anglican-affiliated preschool. The sources of data are participant observation and audio-recordings of planning time interaction; interviews with key informants; and site documentation. The principal finding of the study is that planning time, a seemingly inconsequential preschool event, differentially inducts children into literacy practices that anticipate expository reporting. Such literacy practices carry high prestige in Western capitalist society, being the recognised convention for presenting and contesting information. Planning time was originally designed as an intervention program to facilitate nonmainstream literacy acquisition by making the conventions explicit, thus minimising cultural and linguistic discontinuities between home and school-based literacy practices. However at Church Preschool, an essentially closed environment with access controlled by mechanisms such as waiting lists, this event has been co-opted to further maximise mainstream advantage. The data reveals that, despite a rhetoric of openness in making the norms explicit, planning time only inducts nonrnainstream children into elementary literacy practices. Beyond that point, the conventions become increasingly implicit and depend on shared knowledge of mainstream norms. Planning time functions as a covert gatekeeping event that effectively maintains the status quo by guarding access to powerful literacy practices. The tension between the rhetoric of openness and the reality of who gains mastery of the literacy practices suggests that planning time restricts access not on the level of entry, but at the point of acquisition. / Thesis (M.A.-Linguistics) - UnIversity of Natal, 1996.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of learning to read on developing phonemic awareness. The study was designed to determine whether a relationship exists between the development of the five levels of phonemic awareness identified by Adams (1991), and the phases of reading acquisition described by Biemiller (1970). Data pertaining to phonemic awareness and oral readings were collected in December, February, and April for 71 first grade children. Measures of phonemic awareness included five instruments; one for each level of phonemic awareness. Students were determined to be in one of the three phases of reading acquisition, described by Biemiller (1970), on the basis of their approaches to graphic and contextual cues in text.The analysis of data consisted of two procedures. The first, a series of one-way analyses of variance, examined the relationship between performance on measures of phonemic awareness and membership in one of the three phases of reading acquisition. The second procedure, a series of two-way repeated measures analyses of variance, were computed to examine differences in phonemic awareness between students who experienced a change in phases and those who did not.Results of the one-way analyses found significant group effects for each of the measures except the Rhyming task. However, when means and standard error were examined, it was determined that the Word Analysis task (measuring the ability to manipulate phonemes) was the only instrument that revealed both practically and statistically significant differences. Therefore, the ability to manipulate phonemes appeared to be the distinguishing factor between children in the phases of reading acquisition.Results of the two-way analyses of variance found that only performance on the Word Analysis task revealed significance for group membership. The performance of those students who had changed phases was found to have improved significantly, and at a more rapid pace, than those students who had remained in the same phase throughout the study. The findings indicate that it is during that period of time when children are actively attending to the graphic cues in text that they are also learning to manipulate phonemes. / Department of Elementary Education

The purpose of this study was to compare the writing produced by first-grade students in three different social settings with assigned and unassigned topics. The three different social interaction patterns were: (a) writing while interacting with an adult, (b) writing while interacting with peers, and (c) writing by themselves.The sample consisted of 14 first graders in two classrooms in a university laboratory school in a midwestern school district. During a 6-week period, as the children composed, audio-taping and written observations were taken. At the end of the study, interviews with the children were conducted.The 84 written products were rated using the Smith-Ingersoll Holistic Rating Scale and analyzed for number of words, vocabulary, spelling, number of T-units, and number of words per T-unit. Multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to test three null hypotheses at the .05 level of significance. The three null hypotheses were not rejected, leading to the following conclusions:1. First graders in this study achieved equally well in writing when they wrote with a teacher or with peers or individually.2. The first graders achieved equally well in writing when they wrote on an assigned or unassigned topic.3. There was no statistically significant interaction between the three social contexts and topic choice among the first graders in this study.Observational data suggested that writing seems to have such unique relationships to individuals that responses in different social settings vary at different times and situations. The multiplicity of factors which impinged on the performance of the child made it difficult to isolate any single factor out of the total learning-writing environment.Recommendations for additional research include replication and expansion of this research with children at various grade levels. In addition, recommendations are made for future research to examine a variety of other factors which might influence writing performance and frequency of writing in the classroom. / Department of Elementary Education

Thesis (MEd (Literacy and Language)) -- University of South Australia, 1994