Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 168-173). Also available in print.

Thesis (EdD)--Open University.

In recent years, state and national governments have introduced major programmes to reform literacy teaching, e.g. textbook programmes in the United States; the Literacy Block in Victoria, Australia (DEET, 1997, 1998); the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) in England (Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), 1998). These programmes are largely based on the growing body of evidence about what may constitute effective literacy teaching. Following the trend, Taiwan‟s government is also recognizing that in order to meet the challenges of globalization and the desire to improve students‟ PIRST in the literacy section year–on-year, Taiwanese should be well-equipped with new knowledge and literacy (Ministry of Education, Taiwan; 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005). One of the ways to make education and training more accessible is by providing better infrastructure, such as building new libraries and providing more books, as well as upgrading the teaching and learning practices through teacher training. There is also an urgent need to improve the declining standards in Chinese literacy (Ministry of Education, Taiwan; 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005). In 2000, the Taiwan Education Commission proposed a Reading Project in an attempt to deal with these challenges, which included the whole language approach (MOE, 2000). This approach was the key guideline for the implementation of the aims of early childhood education for the twenty-first millennium. Therefore, many nurseries and kindergartens claim that they have applied the whole language approach as part of their teaching policy, and have treated it as an important element of their curriculum design. In order to explore the understanding of Taiwanese early year‟s teachers regarding whole language approach and its implementation, a total of 200 questionnaires were delivered to teachers at nurseries and kindergartens. 169 were completed and analyzed. In addition, three Taiwanese nursery teachers participated in an in-depth qualitative study to investigate the implementation of the whole language approach and to explore their understanding of it. During the course of the investigation, their beliefs about literacy teaching and the extent to which those beliefs are reflected in their classroom practices were examined. Their framing of the whole language approach was tracked for more than four months by means of interviews and classroom observations. The wealth of data and information collected revealed that although the whole language approach may be positively mandated on a large scale, individual differences between teachers may make the implementation of any such approach or reform more variable in its impact than researchers and policy makers would expect. The findings indicate that, while teachers sought to include the whole language approach into their literacy teaching, their thinking often shifted and their concept of the whole language approach and literacy learning and teaching fluctuated. The findings also highlight the complexity of these views. The key influences on teachers‟ perceptions of literacy and literacy teaching form a continuum, ranging from a purely discrete skill-based curriculum, which reflects traditional Confucian beliefs, to social interaction, which supports the integration of the whole language approach. This range of beliefs is informed by a variety of different influences, including the experience of teachers; their personal background; their understanding of the needs of parents, as well as those of school requirements; government suggested guidelines, and, finally, cultural demands. Each of these influences represents a unique challenge to the beliefs of teachers. When drawn together, the combination of influences that emerge illustrates the complex ways in which teacher beliefs inform their pedagogical practice. What the data reveals is that the pedagogical practices of teachers were pushed and pulled by these intervening forces, along a continuum between a whole language approach and a more traditional skill-based teaching. Therefore, it is not that they were slow to adopt the utopian whole language approach in practice, nor were they reluctant to change, but that their practice was in reality always constrained by these forces. The findings also indicate that there are immense difficulties in understanding the concept of the whole language approach and a gap between the practitioners‟ espoused theories and practice. The study revealed the complex nature of learning and teaching and the core issue for implementing reform, namely, the need to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Based upon the findings of the study, implications for practice are also considered, namely, the need for government funding and subsidies to help nursery schools to mediate market forces; the restructuring of the bureaucratic and hierarchical management in nurseries; the empowerment of teachers through nurturing their pedagogical competence; support of professional career training; and the ongoing development and reformation of the philosophical underpinnings of teacher training.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wyoming, 2005. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 20, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-60).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: James Raths, School of Education. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2004. / Title from title page screen, viewed November 17, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Dent M. Rhodes (chair), Paul Vogt, Nancy Bragg, Cheri Toledo. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-126) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2010. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 135 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-109).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Idaho, May 2006. / Major professor: John C. Davis. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-174). Also available online in PDF format.

A presente pesquisa investigou a apropriação de uma política educacional por seus destinatários. O seu conteúdo foi constituído, principalmente, pelas percepções que uma professora alfabetizadora e três orientadores de estudos tem acerca do PNAIC (Pacto Nacional pela Alfabetização na Idade Certa) idealizado pelo Ministério da Educação - Secretaria de Educação Básica, e pelas formas como o têm interpretado na sua prática diária. O interesse que moveu esse estudo é o de contribuir para uma melhor compreensão do processo de apropriação das mudanças educacionais propostas pelo PNAIC. Considera-se, ainda, o fato de que é necessário compreender como a escola se organiza a partir de seus diferentes atores e como se materializa no âmbito das políticas públicas educacionais de alfabetização que atravessam esse ambiente no seu dia-a-dia. Cabendo, portanto, as perguntas: Como o programa Pacto Nacional pela Alfabetização na Idade Certa foi compreendido por um professor alfabetizador e três formadores? Quais as suas implicações para a sua prática pedagógica? Foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo, norteada pela abordagem etnográfica inspirados nos trabalhos de Elsie Rockwell e os estudos da psicologia escolar e educacional no campo das políticas públicas, objetivando ampliar e aprofundar a compreensão das peculiaridades inerentes à implantação desse programa. Os dados dessa pesquisa foram discutidos qualitativamente à luz da literatura da área baseada nas contribuições teóricas e metodológicas provenientes de uma psicologia critica que toma os indivíduos e suas ações a partir das relações sociais, históricas e intersubjetivas que os constituem; e revelaram a apropriação da proposta de formação de estudos, por parte dos educadores, que atende aos objetivos de uso de textos e atividades na sala de aula, mas que também evidência resistências em razão dos limites e da insuficiência da proposta que continua a ignorar as necessidades de sala de aula e do trabalho formativo dos professores alfabetizadores com os alunos. / The present research investigated the appropriation of an educational policy by its recipients. Its content was constituted mainly by the perceptions that a literacy teacher and three study counselors have about the PNAIC (National Pact for Literacy in the Right Age) idealized by the Ministry of Education - Secretariat of Basic Education, and by the ways in which they have interpreted it in their daily practice. The interest that moved this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the process of appropriation of the educational changes proposed by the PNAIC. It is also considered the fact that it is necessary to understand how the school is organized from its different actors and how it materializes within the scope of the public educational policies of literacy that cross that environment in their day to day. Therefore, the questions are: How was the National Pact for Literacy in the Right Age program understood by a literacy teacher and three trainers and what are their implications for their pedagogical practice? A field research will be carried out, guided by the ethnographic approach inspired by the work of Elsie Rockwell and the studies of school and educational psychology in the field of public policies, aiming to broaden and deepen the understanding of the peculiarities inherent to the implementation of this program. The data of this research were discussed qualitatively in the light of the literature of the area based on the theoretical and methodological contributions coming from a critical psychology that takes the individuals and their actions from the social, historical and intersubjective relations that constitute them; and revealed the appropriation of the proposal of formation of studies by the educators, which meets the objectives of use of texts and activities in the classroom, but also evidence resistance because of the limits and insufficiency of the proposal that continues to ignore the classroom needs and the training work of literacy teachers with students.