According to the statistics of the Education Bureau, 6248 junior secondary students had been identified with special learning difficulties in 2014. The incidence rate of this group of students suffering from dyslexia is about 80%. This dissertation explores and investigates the Chinese writing difficulties of the junior secondary students with dyslexia encountered from the perspectives of teachers and students. The research consists of two studies. Study1 aims atinvestigating the language teachers’ perceptions of the difficulties of dyslexia students in Chinese writing, teachers’ strategies of helping them, and their related professional training. By using a tailor-designed survey, a profound understanding about the teaching measures applied on dyslexic students can be reached. Throughout the study, 106teachers (with 40 Primary 4-6 teachers and 66 junior secondary teachers) were invited to fill in the questionnaires. The study showed that only about 30% of the respondents were trained to teach the students with dyslexia. Other respondents gave advice to students upon their own judgments, which failed to tackle the difficulties comprehensively. The respondents also stated the writing problems of dyslexic students which include inadequate words, misuse of vocabularies, poor grammatical sentences, and problems in orthographical encoding process. Teachers could mainly use brainstorming and mind-mapping to help students solving their writing problems. Case studies were conducted in Study 2 for 3 students (Grade 7, 8, 9) with dyslexia (aged13, 14 and 15respectively), who were diagnosed by educational psychologists. This study used the framework of Process-writing to analyse the processes of dyslexia students in writing their composition. By employing the Chinese Writing Scale, “Think Aloud” protocol and interview, the stages of pre-writing, writing and reviewing of the dyslexia students were disclosed while they were composing their writing and investigated the difficulties they were confronted with. The finding showed that dyslexic students were in lack of planning strategy in their pre-writing stage. Thus, students experienced “Pause” and “Edit” processes mainly due to slow decoding of the Chinese characters. As dyslexic students rarely reviewed their products, they faced the problems of lacking cognitive strategy and serious problems in orthographical encoding process. In addition, with their poor ability to put oral language into written form, dyslexic students often missed and failed to present the ideas in full. The groundbreaking aspect of this study is that this thesis is the first to employ the process-writing model, think-aloud protocol and students interview as the framework for qualitative analysis of the Chinese writing difficulties confronted by dyslexic students in Hong Kong. Through this comprehensive framework, the new processes in the Chinese writing and their difficulties were identified which will shed light on the analysis of the difficulties of dyslexia students in future research in Chinese writing or bilingual writing. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

The University of Arizona Composition Program has demonstrated that computers can be integrated successfully into composition instruction. Administrators and instructors are preparing to offer students in second-semester Freshman Composition (English 102) a computer-integrated course of instruction as the equipment and facilities become available. Chapter I relates how current research shows that computers offer support to current theories in composition and that they can be utilized in all the various processes involved with producing university writing. It explores the problems program directors and university administrators face in providing computer technology to undergraduates in writing courses. Chapter II compares the reactions of Southern Arizona Writing Project teacher-participants with freshman students in a pilot section of English 102 at the University of Arizona and with comparable undergraduates at other universities as they learn to use word processors as a tool for writing. Some differences between the older SAWP participants and the undergraduates were observed, especially a greater computer anxiety and a greater of urgency to learn about computers. The SAWP participants had less time to become proficient computer writers than did the freshmen. All these factors probably contributed to their lower success rate as computer writers. Nevertheless, a large majority of all ages of computer writers recognize the benefits of using word processors for writing and even those SAWP participants who made only limited progress expressed a sense of satisfaction at having mastered the machine. Chapter III describes ways that computer writing and strategies of collaborative learning and peer review were adapted to the syllabus of English 102 in a pilot class at the University of Arizona. Students reacted favorably to both computers and to the teaching strategies. However, the vision of total computer integration resulting in a paper-free writing course cannot be achieved without either restructuring the syllabus or acquiring substantially improved computer facilities, especially through networked workstations and computerized classrooms.

The purpose set for this study was to define tentative standards of achievement through the analysis of compositions written by fifth, eighth, and eleventh-grade students in terms of quantity and quality.

This research study was designed to investigate whether authentic assessment in written language is a valid assessment tool for students with and without learning disabilities. Teacher judgements were used to evaluate students' authentic writing assessments gathered from the classroom. Students' report card grades, authentic writing assessments, and two standardized writing assessments, the Test of Written Language- Revised and Written Language Assessment, were correlated to provide evidence of the validity of authentic assessment practices in written language.

The purpose of this study was to determine reliability estimates of authentic assessment for fourth-grade narrative and descriptive writing samples for students with and without learning disabilities. Three types of reliability estimates were established: (a) inter-rater, (b) score stability, and (c) alternate-form. The research design involved 40 teachers, trained in holistic scoring by Education Service Centers 10 and 11 in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, who scored 16 writing samples. Approximately 2 weeks later the teachers rescored 8 of the same writing samples. In addition to scoring the writing samples, the teachers also completed a demographic questionnaire. The writing samples, which consisted of eight narrative and eight descriptive writings, were selected based upon teachers' holistic scores and scores from 1993 writing sample of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Based upon these scores, two narrative and descriptive writings of above-average, average, and below-average writings were selected. In addition, two narrative and descriptive writing samples of students with learning disabilities in written language were selected.

This dissertation examines the history, funding, structure, efficacy, and challenges of dual enrollment programs in English (and more specifically in First-Year Composition, FYC, courses) that provide access to higher education for high school students prior to graduation, as these programs have developed and currently operate in the United States. At the center of this qualitative study is a cross comparison case study designed to reveal the quality and nature of the academic discourse that characterizes two class sections of a first-year composition course in one northern, NJ community college campus as compared with two class sections of (ostensibly) the same course offered in one feeder high school in its dual enrollment program. This inquiry will draw on interviews, course artifacts, classroom discussions, and one essay assignment from each class along with research memos and fieldnotes for data to use in a discourse analysis informed by the practice and theory of Gee (2011) and Moffett (1968, 1982). Through such a discourse analysis, this study aims to reveal the extent to which these classes are conducted in ways that are consistent with the aims and cultural practices of first-year composition courses as they are defined by leading composition theorists, current research, and the policy and best-practice documents of the relevant professional organizations. This cross-comparison case study will also provide insight into how the quality and character of a DE Program in FYC may be linked to the quality and character of the administrative oversight of a college’s DE Programs. Beyond the close analysis of DE courses in FYC in one typical and representative community college this dissertation will also focus on the broader problem of developing, operating and evaluating DE programs in FYC in any college. The most widely respected dual enrollment programs in first-year writing have been guided in their development by their affiliation with various national professional organizations and research centers that have provided policies and standards that apply to DE programs in any field. What has been missing, however, is a set of practical guidelines and principles for practice designed specifically for DE Programs in First Year Composition, and informed by sound theory and current research in the teaching and learning of writing, while also drawing on the experience of exemplary DE Programs in FYI, and whatever wisdom is available from professional organizations and research centers. Many community colleges, where dual enrollment programs are most often located, do not have the resources to seek guidance from professional organizations or conduct their own research into best practices for each of the DE courses they might want to establish. A secondary aim of this dissertation, then, is to fill this gap for DE Programs in First Year Composition by providing a research based, theoretically sound, and practice-oriented set of guidelines and procedures for developing, operating, and assessing dual enrollment programs in First Year Composition for use most particularly in community colleges.

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Racial literacy is vital in a contemporary American society that professes meritocracy and post-racialism yet where racial tensions continue to give rise to fear, violence, and inequity. This is especially important in educational institutions, which have the potential to either inspire social progress or maintain inequitable hierarchies. This dissertation explores how college students talk about race in the composition classroom; how those language practices contribute to the practice of racial literacy; and how these racial literacy practices contribute to student engagement and achievement in academic writing. Through a qualitative two-year teacher research project, I explored two distinct curricula for racial literacy in the college First Year Composition (FYC) composition classroom. The first study, conducted at an urban, public two-year college, explored the use of what I have come to term Narrative Song Lyrics (NSL) texts to encourage race talk and student engagement in the classroom. The second study, conducted in an urban, private residential university, explored the potential of an explicit racial literacy curriculum to improve students’ critical writing skills. To highlight classroom culture, I drew upon the ethnographic and discourse analysis methods of data collection and analysis. In student writing, thematic categories were examined for their parallels with foundational rhetorical and writing skills, including authorial voice, audience awareness, language choice, and critical textual interpretation. The purpose of this research was to examine the ways in which racial literacy might transfer to academic writing and to more broadly consider what the racial literacy framework may offer scholars, researchers, instructors and students of First Year Composition. As there are no best practices yet associated with racial literacy development, the dual studies represented in this dissertation serve to illuminate the many possibilities for racial literacy curricula in the college classroom. While two distinct studies, each with their own lines of inquiry, were conducted, I synthesize the findings of these studies to identify the ways in which racial literacy might be practiced and embodied, as well as to proffer a vision of what racial literacy could mean for the college composition classroom.

The major purposes of this study were (1) to construct a reliable and valid scale for measuring writing self-efficacy levels in adult basic education students, (2) to further test the scale's validity and reliability by administering it to a second selected group of adult basic education students, and (3) to demonstrate its utility by showing its use in correlational analyses. In the first of three phases, 156-item statements were initially developed. These statements were evaluated by a Delphi panel and reduced to a 77-item writing self-efficacy scale and administered to 490 adult basic education students from ten community colleges located in Oregon. A systematic procedure of statistical analyses was used that resulted in 25 item-statements meeting criteria for acceptance into the revised writing self-efficacy scale. The revised 25-item scale was administered to a second group of 239 ABE students from six other community colleges in Oregon. The same statistical procedures, as in phase one, resulted in a 25-item writing self-efficacy scale. Factor analyses resulting in a clustering of 21 out of 25 items on two factors argued for some evidence of unidimensionality, but further analyses were recommended. The scale's construct validity was demonstrated by showing a strong divergent correlation with the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Scale. Having established evidence of the scale's validity and reliability, the use of the writing self-efficacy scale in conducting correlational analyses was demonstrated. Nine variables were studied, with two variables showing strong relationships with writing self-efficacy, a negative one with writing apprehension and a positive one with writing improvement. It was concluded that the newly revised 25-item writing self-efficacy scale showed preliminary evidence of reliability and validity but it was recommended for further study with other selected groups of adult basic education students. The scale's unidimensionality was also suggested for further study, in order to analyze the underlying factors that make up the construct of writing self-efficacy in adult basic education students. Moreover, the development of this scale offered a first step in assessing the important construct of writing self-efficacy in adult basic education students and provided a useful tool in assessing such a construct. / Graduation date: 1995

This study focused on composition teachers in elementary and secondary schools who researched their own teaching practices. Specifically, it examined political implications of their work within the larger context of the education hierarchy. Central to this examination were teacher-researcher (t-r) perceptions of and interactions with other members of the education hierarchy (i.e. university researchers, other t-rs, and students). Evidence for this study was gleaned from journal articles, descriptive essays, and conference sessions in which composition studies t-rs and their consultants discussed their work. A rhetorical analysis of what t-rs have said and written, along with an examination of the politically charged origins of the t-r movement support the hypothesis of this study: t-rs research (at least in part) for political empowerment. In the process of researching, t-rs alter their traditionally defined relationships with university researchers, other t-rs, and students. Composition studies offers a natural setting (philosophically and practically) for the t-r movement. / Graduation date: 1993