Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Trudy Salsberry / Today, students enter school with a variety of knowledge about technology. They are accustomed to using the Internet, cell phones, instant messaging, social networking, but that does not mean they have a deep understanding of the reading skills necessary to be successful at online reading (Leu et al., 2013). Reading on the Internet requires critical literacy skills and requires a different set of reading comprehension skills when compared to traditional print (Coiro & Dobler, 2007; Eaglerton & Dobler, 2007; Henry, 2006; Karchmer-Klein & Shinas, 2012; Leu et al., 2008; Leu et al., 2013). The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the knowledge, dispositions, and actions of principals perceived to be most meaningful by both the principals themselves and the teachers under their supervision in high-poverty schools with classroom teachers integrating new literacies. This study also examined the dimensions of instructional leadership (Hallinger & Murphy, 1985) and how these dimensions intersect with knowledge, dispositions, and actions of principals. Using a qualitative design, specifically a multiple-case study, the researcher interviewed teachers and principals at four, high-poverty elementary schools to gain insight into the principals’ role in the integration of new literacies. This study provides a deeper understanding of the many components involved in the leadership of a high-poverty school with classroom teachers integrating new literacies. The findings of this study include that the principals were literacy leaders. They were knowledgeable about the curriculum; ensured teachers had the appropriate resources to integrate new literacies (Internet, iPads, laptops, and tablets); and had high expectations for teachers in terms of technology integration. The principals created equitable opportunities for all students to participate in the integration of technology and literacy. Finally, the principals in this study created a culture of trust and professional growth for teachers.

Pesquisa desenvolvida numa escola da rede municipal de ensino de São Paulo com o intuito de buscar diferentes perspectivas educacionais em que o ensino da língua inglesa pudesse ser reapropriado e ajustado aos interesses de aprendizagem locais da língua, tida como franca. Para isso, fez-se uso não somente dos dados gerados e coletados no campo da pesquisa com os procedimentos da etnografia aplicados à educação como também de bibliografia relevante da área, com enfoque principal nos textos que documentam a legislação brasileira sobre educação em diversos momentos históricos e nos pressupostos dos autores dos Novos e Multiletramentos e da Decolonialidade. A escola, campo da pesquisa, se apresentou como um exemplo satisfatório para ilustrar diversos pontos levantados ao longo da parte teórica do trabalho. / Abstract: Research developed at a public school in the city of Sao Paulo aiming at investigating different educational perspectives in which the English Language Teaching could be readapted and adjusted to the local interests and needs of the students. To accomplish this plan, we made use not only of the data produced and collected on the field of research with ethnographic procedures applied to educational research as well as relevant bibliography on the area, focusing mainly on the texts that documented Brazilian laws on education at different historical moments and the theories of New and Multiliteracies and of Decoloniality. The school, field of research, proved itself to be a good example in order to highlight several concerns which were brought by most of the theoretical concepts of this work.

Esta pesquisa investigou a atuação pedagógica de três professores de inglês como LE na escola pública, que participaram de um curso de formação continuada, tendo por base as teorias dos novos letramentos, multiletramentos e letramento crítico. Alguns dos objetivos específicos deste trabalho foram investigar a utilização pelo professor das teorias sobre novos letramentos, multiletramentos e letramento crítico na sala de aula de inglês como LE, identificar, na ação do professor de inglês como LE, os procedimentos didático-pedagógicos que refletem ações locais em oposição a ações globais, e compreender como essas ações do professor podem influenciar o processo de ensino/aprendizagem. Por fim, analisou-se como a atuação pedagógica do professor pode contribuir para a formação da cidadania dos alunos envolvidos. A introdução deste trabalho apresenta os objetivos gerais e específicos que nortearam sua realização, sua justificativa, e suas premissas e perguntas de pesquisa, assim como o lócus de enunciação da pesquisadora, a metodologia utilizada, o contexto e os participantes. Os quatro capítulos centrais versam sobre temas específicos que embasaram a coleta e a análise dos dados. O Capítulo 1 revisa o conjunto de teorias que formam a perspectiva dos novos letramentos, principal base teórica deste trabalho, discorrendo sobre noções de alfabetização e letramento no sentido tradicional até chegar à visão dos letramentos, conforme autores já clássicos das principais ideias dos novos letramentos e multiletramentos. O Capítulo 2 apresenta o corpo principal de dados coletados durante esta pesquisa, analisando-os e discutindo-os com base na abordagem sociocultural para os letramentos, conforme as sugestões de Lankshear, Snyder e Green (2000). O Capítulo 3 trata de questões referentes aos recentes processos de globalização e sua influência no ensino de inglês no Brasil, principalmente no que se refere à escola pública. O Capítulo 4 debate noções tradicionais e contemporâneas de cidadania e sua relação com o ensino de inglês na escola regular, fazendo referência ao papel da língua inglesa na formação do aluno-cidadão. O capítulo final tece algumas considerações sobre a pesquisa que se referem de maneira geral a todos os temas abordados e discorre sobre as implicações da pesquisa realizada, principalmente no que diz respeito à formação do professor de inglês como LE e à educação para a cidadania. / This research investigated the pedagogic practice of three EFL teachers in public schools, who attended an in-service education course, based on the theories of new literacies, multiliteracies and critical literacy. Some of the specific objectives of this study were to investigate the use of the theories of new literacies, multiliteracies and critical literacy by the teacher in the EFL classroom, to identify, in the practice of the EFL teacher, the pedagogic procedures that reflect local actions in opposition to global actions, and to understand how these actions can influence the teaching/learning process. Finally, another specific aim of the research was to analyze how the teachers pedagogic practice can contribute to the citizenship education of the students involved. The introduction states the general and specific objectives that guided the implementation of this research, its rationale, its premises and the research questions, as well as the researchers locus of enunciation, the methodology, the context and the participants. The four main chapters are concerned with specific issues that support the collection and analysis of the data. Chapter 1 reviews the set of theories that constitute the perspective of the new literacies studies, the main theoretical basis of this research, discussing notions of literacy and literacies, from the traditional view of literacy to the now-classic ideas of the main authors of the new literacies and multiliteracies studies. Chapter 2 introduces the main body of data collected during this research, analyzing and discussing them based on a sociocultural approach to literacy, according to the suggestions of Lankshear, Snyder and Green (2000). Chapter 3 deals with issues related to the recent processes of globalization and its influence on teaching English in Brazil, especially with regard to public school. Chapter 4 debates traditional and contemporary notions of citizenship and its relationship with the teaching of English in regular schools, making reference to the role of English in the education of the student-citizen. The final chapter offers some thoughts about the research that generally refer to all the themes considered and discusses the implications of the research, especially with regard to EFL teachers development and citizenship education.

Pesquisa desenvolvida numa escola da rede municipal de ensino de São Paulo com o intuito de buscar diferentes perspectivas educacionais em que o ensino da língua inglesa pudesse ser reapropriado e ajustado aos interesses de aprendizagem locais da língua, tida como franca. Para isso, fez-se uso não somente dos dados gerados e coletados no campo da pesquisa com os procedimentos da etnografia aplicados à educação como também de bibliografia relevante da área, com enfoque principal nos textos que documentam a legislação brasileira sobre educação em diversos momentos históricos e nos pressupostos dos autores dos Novos e Multiletramentos e da Decolonialidade. A escola, campo da pesquisa, se apresentou como um exemplo satisfatório para ilustrar diversos pontos levantados ao longo da parte teórica do trabalho. / Abstract: Research developed at a public school in the city of Sao Paulo aiming at investigating different educational perspectives in which the English Language Teaching could be readapted and adjusted to the local interests and needs of the students. To accomplish this plan, we made use not only of the data produced and collected on the field of research with ethnographic procedures applied to educational research as well as relevant bibliography on the area, focusing mainly on the texts that documented Brazilian laws on education at different historical moments and the theories of New and Multiliteracies and of Decoloniality. The school, field of research, proved itself to be a good example in order to highlight several concerns which were brought by most of the theoretical concepts of this work.

A presente pesquisa apresenta uma investigação sobre as concepções de língua e cultura decorrentes dos discursos e das práticas de ensino de duas professoras de inglês da escola pública regular de ensino formal. Os registros desta investigação são analisados sob uma perspectiva metodológica qualitativo-interpretativa de caráter etnográfico (GEERTZ, 1978; ANDRÉ, 2008) e servem como insumos para a reflexão e discussão sobre o tema segundo a perspectiva das teorias educacionais dos novos letramentos e multiletramentos. Tais discussões levam em conta as mudanças da sociedade atual (COPE; KALANTZIS, 2000), a influência da globalização (BAUMAN, 1998; HALL, 1992; SUÁREZ-OROZCO, M.M. & QIN-HILLIARD, 2004), mudanças epistemológicas (LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2003; MORIN, 2000; MONTE MÓR 2002, 2008, 2009a), e a ênfase no caráter educacional, cultural e crítico do ensino de línguas estrangeiras na educação formal (OCEM-LE, 2006). Diante das análises decorrentes das observações de aulas, das entrevistas e conversas informais com as professoras, dos questionários respondidos pelos alunos e da análise de documentos, pudemos identificar concepções que evidenciam elementos atribuídos a noções ditas tradicionais de conceber língua e cultura, ou seja, a língua como um sistema abstrato estrutural com base, principalmente, na gramática ou como uma ferramenta de comunicação. Cultura, por sua vez, apresenta-se sob a concepção antropológica e humanista, como um aspecto geralmente dissociado da língua. Identificamos, ainda, que ambas as professoras conhecem e estudam abordagens de ensino de línguas estrangeiras que abarcam concepções de língua e linguagem com viés sociocultural, sem contudo, parecer transpor ou se apropriar de tais concepções de maneira que mudem suas práticas de ensino. Tais evidências, contudo, não surgiram de maneira linear e homogênea, uma vez que as práticas pedagógicas e narrativas das professoras mostraram-se descontínuas e conflituosas. Ambas as professoras mostraram-se bastante preocupadas e comprometidas com o trabalho que realizam e com a contínua busca por tornar suas práticas significativas. / This research presents an investigation regarding the conceptions of language and culture identified in the speeches and teaching practices of two English teachers of formal education in public schools. The reports of this investigation are analyzed under the methodological standpoint of an interpretative-qualitative research, with ethnographic aspects (GEERTZ, 1978; ANDRE, 2008). It serves then as a starting point for a discussion about this theme from the perspective of the educational theories of new literacies and multiliteracies. This discussion takes into account the recent ongoing changes in society (COPE; KALANTZIS, 2000), the influence of globalization (BAUMAN, 1998; HALL, 1992; SUÁREZ-OROZCO, M.M. & QIN-HILLIARD, 2004), epistemological changes (LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2003; MORIN, 2000; MONTE MÓR 2002, 2008, 2009a), and an emphasis on the educational, cultural, and critical aspects of foreign language teaching in formal education (OCEM-LE, 2006). Given the resulting analyzes of classroom observations, interviews and informal conversations with the teachers, questionnaires answered by students, and document analysis, we identified concepts that highlight elements assigned to the so-called traditional notions of language and culture. That is, language as an abstract structural system based mainly on grammar or as a tool of communication. Culture, in turn, is regarded in its anthropological and humanist sense, generally dissociated from language. We also found that both teachers know and study foreign language teaching approaches that encompass sociocultural concepts of language, however, seeming not to apply or relate these concepts to their own teaching practices in a way to transform them. Such indications, however, did not arise in a linear and homogeneous way, since the pedagogical practices and narratives of the teachers were discontinuous and conflicting. Both teachers were quite concerned and committed to their work and to the continuing search for making their practices meaningful.

Internet Memes transverse and sometimes transcend cyberspace on the back of impossibly cute LOLcats speaking mangled English and the snarky remarks of Image Macro characters always on the lookout for someone to undermine. No longer the abstract notion of a cultural gene that Dawkins (2006) introduced in the late 1970s, memes have now become synonymous with a particular brand of vernacular language that internet users engage by posting, sharing and remixing digital content as they communicate jokes, emotions and opinions. For the purpose of this research the language of Internet Memes is understood as visual, succinct and capable of inviting active engagement by users who encounter digital content online that exhibits said characteristics. Internet Memes were explored through an Arts-Based Educational Research framework by first identifying the conventions that shape them and then interrogating these conventions during two distinct research phases. In the first phase the researcher, as a doctoral student in art and visual culture education, engaged class readings and assignments by generating digital content that not only responded to the academic topics at hand but did so through forms associated with Internet Memes like Image Macros and Animated GIFs. In the second phase the researcher became a meme literacy facilitator as learners in three different age-groups were led in the reading, writing and remixing of memes during a month-long summer art camp where they were also exposed to other art-making processes such as illustration, acting and sculpture. Each group of learners engaged age-appropriate meme types: 1) the youngest group, 6 and 7 year-olds, wrote Emoji Stories and Separated at Birth memes; 2) the middle group, 8-10 year-olds, worked with Image Macros and Perception memes, 3) while the oldest group, 11-13 year-olds, generated Image Macros and Animated GIFs. The digital content emerging from both research phases was collected as data and analyzed through a hybrid of Memetics, Actor-Network Theory, Object Oriented Ontology, Remix Theory and Glitch Studies as the researcher shifted shapes yet again and became a Research Jockey sampling freely from each field of study. A case is made for Internet Memes to be understood as an actor-network where meme collectives, individual cybernauts, software and source material are all actants interrelating and making each other enact collective agencies through shared authorships. Additionally specific educational contexts are identified where the language of Internet Memes can serve to incorporate technology, storytelling, visual thinking and remix practices into art and visual culture education. Finally, the document reporting on the research expands on the hermeneutics of Internet Memes and the phenomenological experiences they elicit that are otherwise absent from traditional scholarly prose. Chapter by chapter the dissertation was crafted as a journey from the academic to the whimsical, from the lecture hall to the image board (where Internet Memes were born), from the written word to the remixed image as a visual language that is equal parts form and content that emerges and culminates in a concluding chapter composed almost entirely of popular Internet Meme types. An online component can be found at http://memeducation.org/

This thesis explores the issues of immigration and identity that inform the experiences of adult English language learners and which can be addressed within a classroom context. Using practitioner research and an explicitly critical approach to literacy and learning, I conducted a six week workshop at a community English language school in New York City, working with eleven adult learners to discuss their lives in their native countries, decisions to move to the United States, and experiences living in a new country and learning English in an attempt to understand how those factors shape their learning and could be incorporated into the curriculum. This workshop used poetry as a means for students’ self-expression and demonstrated the importance of inviting adult immigrant students into collaborative, co-constructive learning environments where their lived experiences are at the core of their language learning process in order to allow for an inclusive negotiation of identity.

This thesis explores the issues of immigration and identity that inform the experiences of adult English language learners and which can be addressed within a classroom context. Using practitioner research and an explicitly critical approach to literacy and learning, I conducted a six week workshop at a community English language school in New York City, working with eleven adult learners to discuss their lives in their native countries, decisions to move to the United States, and experiences living in a new country and learning English in an attempt to understand how those factors shape their learning and could be incorporated into the curriculum. This workshop used poetry as a means for students’ self-expression and demonstrated the importance of inviting adult immigrant students into collaborative, co-constructive learning environments where their lived experiences are at the core of their language learning process in order to allow for an inclusive negotiation of identity.

Esta pesquisa investigou a atuação pedagógica de três professores de inglês como LE na escola pública, que participaram de um curso de formação continuada, tendo por base as teorias dos novos letramentos, multiletramentos e letramento crítico. Alguns dos objetivos específicos deste trabalho foram investigar a utilização pelo professor das teorias sobre novos letramentos, multiletramentos e letramento crítico na sala de aula de inglês como LE, identificar, na ação do professor de inglês como LE, os procedimentos didático-pedagógicos que refletem ações locais em oposição a ações globais, e compreender como essas ações do professor podem influenciar o processo de ensino/aprendizagem. Por fim, analisou-se como a atuação pedagógica do professor pode contribuir para a formação da cidadania dos alunos envolvidos. A introdução deste trabalho apresenta os objetivos gerais e específicos que nortearam sua realização, sua justificativa, e suas premissas e perguntas de pesquisa, assim como o lócus de enunciação da pesquisadora, a metodologia utilizada, o contexto e os participantes. Os quatro capítulos centrais versam sobre temas específicos que embasaram a coleta e a análise dos dados. O Capítulo 1 revisa o conjunto de teorias que formam a perspectiva dos novos letramentos, principal base teórica deste trabalho, discorrendo sobre noções de alfabetização e letramento no sentido tradicional até chegar à visão dos letramentos, conforme autores já clássicos das principais ideias dos novos letramentos e multiletramentos. O Capítulo 2 apresenta o corpo principal de dados coletados durante esta pesquisa, analisando-os e discutindo-os com base na abordagem sociocultural para os letramentos, conforme as sugestões de Lankshear, Snyder e Green (2000). O Capítulo 3 trata de questões referentes aos recentes processos de globalização e sua influência no ensino de inglês no Brasil, principalmente no que se refere à escola pública. O Capítulo 4 debate noções tradicionais e contemporâneas de cidadania e sua relação com o ensino de inglês na escola regular, fazendo referência ao papel da língua inglesa na formação do aluno-cidadão. O capítulo final tece algumas considerações sobre a pesquisa que se referem de maneira geral a todos os temas abordados e discorre sobre as implicações da pesquisa realizada, principalmente no que diz respeito à formação do professor de inglês como LE e à educação para a cidadania. / This research investigated the pedagogic practice of three EFL teachers in public schools, who attended an in-service education course, based on the theories of new literacies, multiliteracies and critical literacy. Some of the specific objectives of this study were to investigate the use of the theories of new literacies, multiliteracies and critical literacy by the teacher in the EFL classroom, to identify, in the practice of the EFL teacher, the pedagogic procedures that reflect local actions in opposition to global actions, and to understand how these actions can influence the teaching/learning process. Finally, another specific aim of the research was to analyze how the teachers pedagogic practice can contribute to the citizenship education of the students involved. The introduction states the general and specific objectives that guided the implementation of this research, its rationale, its premises and the research questions, as well as the researchers locus of enunciation, the methodology, the context and the participants. The four main chapters are concerned with specific issues that support the collection and analysis of the data. Chapter 1 reviews the set of theories that constitute the perspective of the new literacies studies, the main theoretical basis of this research, discussing notions of literacy and literacies, from the traditional view of literacy to the now-classic ideas of the main authors of the new literacies and multiliteracies studies. Chapter 2 introduces the main body of data collected during this research, analyzing and discussing them based on a sociocultural approach to literacy, according to the suggestions of Lankshear, Snyder and Green (2000). Chapter 3 deals with issues related to the recent processes of globalization and its influence on teaching English in Brazil, especially with regard to public school. Chapter 4 debates traditional and contemporary notions of citizenship and its relationship with the teaching of English in regular schools, making reference to the role of English in the education of the student-citizen. The final chapter offers some thoughts about the research that generally refer to all the themes considered and discusses the implications of the research, especially with regard to EFL teachers development and citizenship education.

A presente pesquisa apresenta uma investigação sobre as concepções de língua e cultura decorrentes dos discursos e das práticas de ensino de duas professoras de inglês da escola pública regular de ensino formal. Os registros desta investigação são analisados sob uma perspectiva metodológica qualitativo-interpretativa de caráter etnográfico (GEERTZ, 1978; ANDRÉ, 2008) e servem como insumos para a reflexão e discussão sobre o tema segundo a perspectiva das teorias educacionais dos novos letramentos e multiletramentos. Tais discussões levam em conta as mudanças da sociedade atual (COPE; KALANTZIS, 2000), a influência da globalização (BAUMAN, 1998; HALL, 1992; SUÁREZ-OROZCO, M.M. & QIN-HILLIARD, 2004), mudanças epistemológicas (LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2003; MORIN, 2000; MONTE MÓR 2002, 2008, 2009a), e a ênfase no caráter educacional, cultural e crítico do ensino de línguas estrangeiras na educação formal (OCEM-LE, 2006). Diante das análises decorrentes das observações de aulas, das entrevistas e conversas informais com as professoras, dos questionários respondidos pelos alunos e da análise de documentos, pudemos identificar concepções que evidenciam elementos atribuídos a noções ditas tradicionais de conceber língua e cultura, ou seja, a língua como um sistema abstrato estrutural com base, principalmente, na gramática ou como uma ferramenta de comunicação. Cultura, por sua vez, apresenta-se sob a concepção antropológica e humanista, como um aspecto geralmente dissociado da língua. Identificamos, ainda, que ambas as professoras conhecem e estudam abordagens de ensino de línguas estrangeiras que abarcam concepções de língua e linguagem com viés sociocultural, sem contudo, parecer transpor ou se apropriar de tais concepções de maneira que mudem suas práticas de ensino. Tais evidências, contudo, não surgiram de maneira linear e homogênea, uma vez que as práticas pedagógicas e narrativas das professoras mostraram-se descontínuas e conflituosas. Ambas as professoras mostraram-se bastante preocupadas e comprometidas com o trabalho que realizam e com a contínua busca por tornar suas práticas significativas. / This research presents an investigation regarding the conceptions of language and culture identified in the speeches and teaching practices of two English teachers of formal education in public schools. The reports of this investigation are analyzed under the methodological standpoint of an interpretative-qualitative research, with ethnographic aspects (GEERTZ, 1978; ANDRE, 2008). It serves then as a starting point for a discussion about this theme from the perspective of the educational theories of new literacies and multiliteracies. This discussion takes into account the recent ongoing changes in society (COPE; KALANTZIS, 2000), the influence of globalization (BAUMAN, 1998; HALL, 1992; SUÁREZ-OROZCO, M.M. & QIN-HILLIARD, 2004), epistemological changes (LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2003; MORIN, 2000; MONTE MÓR 2002, 2008, 2009a), and an emphasis on the educational, cultural, and critical aspects of foreign language teaching in formal education (OCEM-LE, 2006). Given the resulting analyzes of classroom observations, interviews and informal conversations with the teachers, questionnaires answered by students, and document analysis, we identified concepts that highlight elements assigned to the so-called traditional notions of language and culture. That is, language as an abstract structural system based mainly on grammar or as a tool of communication. Culture, in turn, is regarded in its anthropological and humanist sense, generally dissociated from language. We also found that both teachers know and study foreign language teaching approaches that encompass sociocultural concepts of language, however, seeming not to apply or relate these concepts to their own teaching practices in a way to transform them. Such indications, however, did not arise in a linear and homogeneous way, since the pedagogical practices and narratives of the teachers were discontinuous and conflicting. Both teachers were quite concerned and committed to their work and to the continuing search for making their practices meaningful.