Le travail présenté ici propose une étude sociolinguistique d’un corpus oral recueilli récemment, auprès de différents locuteurs en rapport avec les milieux multiculturels et plurilingues, en Île-de-France.Partant de l’hypothèse que la variation (socio)linguistique (et ses locuteurs) reste encore aujourd’hui sous estimée en dépit de l’idéologie du standard, ce travail s’interroge sur les pratiques langagières des locuteurs qui sont significatives, non en tant que formes entièrement à part, mais en tant que formes à part entière de l’environnement socioculturel des locuteurs. Pour ce faire, notre réflexion sur ces formes dites non standard se base sur la proximité communicative entre les protagonistes (Koch & Oesterreicher, 2001) qui partagent des connivences et forment un réseau serré (Eckert, 2006), favorisant l’émergence de variétés linguistiques.L’analyse des unités formelles dans les parlers jeunes ordinaires montre qu’elles sont en constantes dynamiques tant au niveau lexical qu’au niveau sémantique, par lesquelles les locuteurs situent leurs identités. En d’autres mots, des marqueurs d’identités dans lesquels s’inscrivent les représentations sociolinguistiques du sujet se font jour (Mendoza-Denton, 2000). / The following thesis offers a sociolinguistic study of a recently collected oral corpus, from various speakers who belongs to different multicultural and multilingual milieu in Île-de-France.Starting from the hypothesis that the sociolinguistic variation including its speakers remain today undervalued despite of the standards’ ideology. The following research seeks to question the language dialects of the speakers which is very significant, not a as apart dialect practice, but as sociocultural environment dialects of the speakers in its own right. With this in mind, our reflexion about these dialects identified as non-standards, is based on the communicative proximity of the protagonists (Koch & Oesterreicher, 2001) who exchange connivance and constitute a tight network (Eckert, 2006), promoting the linguistic varieties emergence. The analysis of formal unities in basic young dialects shows that the language practice is constantly progressive lexically as well as semantically, through which the speakers situate their identities. In other words, the identity markers in which are inscribed the sociolinguistics representations of the subject are updated (Mendoza-Denton, 2002).

Behavior recognition provides an interesting perspective for understandingthe different modes of a system and the influence of eachmode under varying conditions. In most of the systems, prior knowledgeof different expected behavior is available. Whereas, in an automotivedomain, a fleet of vehicle with many external factors influencingeach vehicle and an asynchronous performance of each vehicleon road, creates the complexity on analyzing and predicting the exacttime segments of vehicles in a fleet exhibiting similar behavior. Thisthesis focuses on recognizing time segments of vehicles that exhibitsimilar behavior based on supervised and unsupervised approaches.In supervised approach, classifiers are trained to predict two distinctiveoperations(highway and in-city). In unsupervised approach, featurespace is explored for identification of consistent features and existenceof other operations. An unsupervised approach to recognizepeer cluster groups is combined with supervised classification resultsto achieve lower computational complexity.

Abstract The formation of a physician's professional identity and conception of him/herself as a doctor is often taken for granted and considered a by-product of learning. During professional socialization, medical students internalize knowledge, skills, attitudes, behavioral models as well as ethical and moral values of medicine. However, certain critical experiences may trigger an active construction of professional identity. The aim of this research was to explore the process of constructing professional identity during medical education in the framework of cultural-historical activity theory. Multiple methods (questionnaires, videotapes of medical students' reflection group sessions, and interviews of the supervisors) were used in data collection and analysis. Medical students were found to have differing orientations towards learning and practising medicine. Some of the students, more commonly females, expressed a need for more support for their professional development. Reflection groups offered medical students a possibility to share their experiences of critical situations. The topics of discussion dealt with career choice, medical education (teaching, patient encounters, communication), working experiences and career opportunities. Medical students' narratives of their experiences in university hospital learning situations revealed the way in which various interaction situations laid the basis for the development of professional identity. In constructing a physician's professional identity, medical students had to solve dilemmas encountered in three different activity systems: Personal life, Medical education and Work. Encountering critical situations is part of the daily practice in medical schools. These situations may induce reflection on action and conscious development of professional identity. Medical students should be provided with more possibilities to elaborate on especially dilemmas concerning professionalism, communication skills, encountering death, and biomedical versus psychosocial aspects of medicine during their medical education.

M.Ed. / This study focuses on a tutor development programme within an academic literacies module called Language for the Economic Sciences (LES). Coordination of the LES module encompasses tutor development as tutors are the primary facilitators of the module. LES forms part of an Extended Degree Programme within the Faculty of Economic Sciences devised to meet the needs of “underprepared” first year students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). To this end, LES falls within the ambit of academic development at UJ as it is designed and coordinated by an Academic Development practitioner. Higher Education in South Africa has in the recent past shifted from relatively elitist to a mass system of education with the aim to foster democratic nation building. One of the major changes that has occurred is the merger of a number of institutions of higher learning. As a result of the mergers, a new type of comprehensive institution offering a broad spectrum of academic formative, as well as vocationally oriented programmes, has been established. This study focuses on the UJ, as an example of a merged institution, and will examine how teaching and learning has been effected by the changes at UJ. This research is informed by the notion that the interface between tutor and student is vital for students to attain literacy as well as academic language and skills proficiency in their chosen field. Thus, the research problem posed in this study is: What is the role of tutor development in an academic literacies module? Much of the literature on tutoring practice discusses the need to train tutors and offers various means through which this can be done. Using an Action Research design and a global analysis of the data collected, the findings of this study suggest that in addition to the appropriate, focused and rigorous training of tutors, they also need to be developed for effective tutoring to occur. Moreover, the sustained support and mentorship of both individual tutors and tutor groups allows for the maximum benefits of tutoring to be realized by all stakeholders.

The aim of the study was to explore the influence of social factors on adolescent drug abuse. The researcher's interest in the study evolved from her involvement with adolescent drug patients at Magaliesoord Centre. Drug abuse is recognised as one of the greatest social problems in South Africa. Youth, particularly adolescents, are found to be amongst the high risk groups. The exploratory design was selected for conducting this research. This design is approprate for this study particularly as it is aimed at exploring to what extent social factors influence adolescent drug abuse. A face-to-face structured interview schedule was used as a data gathering instrument. Adolescent drug abuse is a phenomenon which is determined by multiple factors. These factors are imbedded in the cultural and social structures within communities. Family and peer behaviour and standards are for most youth the greatest sources of influence. The objectives of the study were as follows: <ul> <li> To explore the extent to which poor family relationships influence adolescent drug abuse</li><li> To explore the influence of the home environment on adolescent drug abuse</li><li> To explore if peer pressure influence adolescent drug abuse. </li></ul> From the data acquired, it can be concluded that multiple factors influence adolescent drug behaviour. Of the social environmental factors influencing adolescent drug abuse, the family and peers are perceived as having the strongest influence. Poorfamily relationships, particularly those characterized by poor communication between parents and their adolescent children, do contribute towards adolescent drug behaviour. Adolescents who experience their home environment as unstable often resort to drugs as a response to or an escape from their home situation. Peer pressure resulting from association with drug taking friends often lead adolescents to experiment with drugs, thus leading to eventual abuse. Recommendations<ul><li> Parents should strive to create a positive atmosphere within the home. This can be achieved by encouraging open communication amongst the family members</li><li> Parents should communicate openly with their children regarding both acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. This will enable the children to know where they stand in relation to their parents regarding their behaviour. </li><li> Adolescents should be guided in their selection of friends. Parents should know who their children associate with outside the home. </li><li> Children should be encouraged and supported at an early age to take part in recreational activities. This will enable them to use their leisure time constructively. </li></ul> / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

This study investigates the relationship between peer group facilitation and the changes in self-concept, interpersonal relations and school interest of secondary students in an alternative school. To carry out the study, a peer group facilitation program was incorporated into the curriculum of an alternative high school.

Among the variety of components comprising the PSI package originally described by Keller (1968) is the use of proctors which permit immediate scoring, tutoring, and personal-social interactions. Recent research has indicated that immediate scoring may not be an essential proctor function. However, personal-social interactions and tutoring may affect student academic performance and consumer satisfaction. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of the personal-social aspect of proctoring. A counter-balanced reversal plus control group design was utilized to investigate the effects of: (a) trained and untrained proctors and (b) trained and untrained proctors who participated in a lottery which was based on student performance and satisfaction. Data were collected on proctor behaviors during grading and student academic performance and consumer satisfaction ratings. Although trained proctors and proctors with lottery contingencies seemed to engage in the target behaviors more frequently, the performance of students enrolled in the course did not seem to be differentially affected in terms of the dependent measures investigated.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a peer mentoring program incorporating learning styles impacts upon the achievement and persistence of entry-level academically underprepared college students. PROCEDURE: Subjects were freshmen at Bemidji State University during the fall terms of 1985 and 1986 who were assigned to remedial/developmental English because of low placement test scores. An experimental group of 31 English 100 students participated in Connections: The Student-to-Student Mentoring Network, a pilot program designed to help underprepared students make a successful transition into college. The experimental group was compared to a control group of 40 students who were not mentored but who took the course the previous year from the same instructors. Analysis of covariance procedures and chi-square statistics were used to assess the effects of peer mentoring on grades and reenrollment status. Effects of mentors and students matching and mismatching in learning style, age-level, and gender were analyzed by comparing grades and reenrollment status of matched and nonmatched pairs. The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator was used to assess level of learning style match. FINDINGS: 1. Students in remedial/developmental English who received peer mentoring achieved a more favorable reenrollment status than comparable students who took the course without mentoring. 2. Mentored students attained more satisfactory grades than nonmentored students. 3. Matching students and mentors by learning style was not found to be a factor in improving students' grades or reenrollment status. 4. Matching students and mentors by gender was not found to be a factor in improving students' grades or reenrollment status. 5. Matching students and mentors by age-level was not found to be a factor in improving students' grades or reenrollment status. Contrary to the research hypothesis, the findings suggested that students who had mentors of a higher age-level attained a more favorable reenrollment status. 6. Mentored students were more knowledgeable about campus resources and used them more frequently.

Many crisis intervention programs have been developed for child abuse but very few primary prevention programs exist. Teaching prospective parents to cope with aversive child behaviors might prevent the occurrence of child abuse later. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of using peer (high school students) and college students as trainers in a preventative approach to child abuse for high school students. It was proposed that peers would be better trainers because the trainees would be more likely to model their behavior and more at ease when asking the trainers questions. One hundred and thirty-four high school seniors were randomly assigned to one of three groups: control, college trained, or peer trained. These students rated their responses to potentially aversive child behavior situations and also role played their responses in these situations. Results indicated that there were no significant effects of training or types of trainers but the author concluded that more work should be done on the type of peer trainers used.

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / This research paper is based on an investigation of the factors that enabled final year students to persist in a four-year degree programme (Foundation Programme). This study is important given that students who generally enrol for this programme terminate their studies before completion. This is a qualitative study in which interviewing was employed to collect the data. The conceptual framework is underpinned by Tinto’s model of student persistence with specific focus on student involvement through peer group interaction in the formal structure of the classroom. It also hones in on informal engagement which goes beyond the nature of the classroom. It further explores the relevance of academic integration, which encompasses a student’s ability to become well-grounded intellectually in the sphere of the institution in order to respond in a critical and systematic way to its educational demands. In addition, it further interrogates how peer group interaction and academic integration impact students’ ability to persist with their studies. Thus, the findings confirm that relationships exist between peer group interaction, academic integration, and persistence.