This research explores the final assessment of language competence of future foreign language (FL) teachers (university graduates) in the Russian educational context. Foreign Language teacher training has always been an essential part of Russian education and its importance increased in the 1990s. Later however, with significant educational reforms at primary and secondary school level, teacher training became an area of least attention and interest from the Ministry of Education of Russia and local education authorities. This research is based on the belief that no school reforms are possible without investing in teachers and, therefore, in initial and in-service teacher education, with assessment being one of its key dimensions. The study aims to describe optimal methods of assessing language competence of novice teachers of English as a FL in Russia. For this purpose, the following objectives have been achieved: - a description of current notions of FL teacher language competence, based on analyses of previous theoretical and empirical research; - design of exam evaluation tools – 3 questionnaires and an interview framework, and their use in data collection from various stakeholders in a Russian state pedagogical university; - identification of strengths and weaknesses of the current Final language assessment; - description of possible alternative options for the Final Language Examination and discussion of their impact on different stakeholders. The research follows a mixed-methods design with both qualitative and quantitative data collected and discussed. The study involves various stakeholders at different levels and from different backgrounds – university students, Final Exam takers; Exam designers and administrators, and also teachers of English who provided their valuable vision of the current Final Language Examination and its possible alternatives. The data obtained through surveys and interviews allows for tentative conclusions on the current Language Examination’s appropriacy and relevance, and provides ground for a multi-faceted analysis of the Exam’s strong points and weaknesses, and for development of alternative assessment tasks. The research concludes by viewing possible changes in the Exam as likely and less likely to happen in the near future, based on analysis of the Russian higher education context.

A pre-service needs inventory was field tested for possible use by counselors of the Utah State Division of Rehabilitation Services. The field testing was carried out by utilizing two groups of consultants for evaluating format, content, and usability of the inventory. Examination of the data collected from the consultants indicated that a pre-service needs inventory was helpful during the intake process and in filling out the Individual Written Rehabilitation Program. It also indicated that the checklist was broad enough to gather sufficient information and that the instructions were adequate. Finally the data indicated that over 75% of the counselors participating in the field test would use the checklist if it were optional.

The purpose of this study was to explore and represent students leadership understandings that emerged from discussions of their past and current leadership experiences in everyday life, their school experiences, and their college level contexts.<p>In this study I used a multiple method (QUAL + QUAL) research design and the data were analyzed within principles of grounded theory drawn from Strauss and Corbins (1998) grounded theory approach. Individual and focus group interviews were the main data collection methods used in this study: individual interviews with fifteen undergraduate education students and six focus group sessions (held in succession) generated the data. <p>As the leadership understandings held by the students unfolded, four broad themes became prominent. The first theme, the ubiquity of relationships, emerged from the students discussions of collaboration, context, power, and vision. Highlighted in these conversations was their perspective that, with respect to leadership, relationships are everything. The second theme included the students understanding that self-esteem and self-actualization were important aspects of effective and energizing leadership. Third, and perhaps more informative, was the manner in which the students articulated their leadership understandings. One of the biggest findings to come out of the study was the students tendency to speak in dualities in order to process, conceptualize, and articulate their leadership understandings. Additionally, the students sensemaking reflected the important role language and framing played in articulating their leadership understandings. Their perspective that small things (positive and negative) had momentum and led to ramifications emerged as the fourth broad theme. In my quest to understand this phenomenon, I developed the concept of leadership throw as the metaphor that conveyed the students understanding of small things having big ramifications. <p>Implications for theory, research, and policy arose from the students beliefs that leadership was collaborative, interactive, and featured the harnessing of individuals skills for the betterment of communities. In view of what was learned about the students use of language, framing, and leadership throw, their leadership synthesis has implications for an enhanced pre-service teacher preparation program suggesting greater congruence with the lived realities of K-12 schools.<p>In conclusion, it became apparent that the students leadership understandings were part content, part process, and part articulation. Remarkably, I came into this research looking for the students denotative leadership understandings and came away from the study with a clearer understanding of language and framing, leadership throw, and the implications of these concepts powerful argument this makes for nurturing student voice and the capability for expression and framing at all levels of leadership, organizational life, and community relations.

Education literature is replete with articles on critical thinking in secondary and post secondary education. However, the bulk of this literature focuses on the process from the educators perspective of student performance and understanding of critical thinking. Very little research seems to have been done to uncover what the students themselves may think. <p>This thesis attempts to address this lack of enquiry into student perceptions by illuminating how a group of pre-service teachers (and one long service master teacher) have experienced critical thinking in their education, and how they define and understand it. The thesis consists of a literature review that briefly examines the history of critical thinking in education, and how student understandings of critical thinking are perceived by professors and others at the post secondary level.<p>Then, through a series of semi-structured interviews, the thesis examines the perspectives of eleven participants in comparison to those commonly held by writers and educators in the field. The data indicate that most of the participants did not acknowledge encountering critical thinking methodologies or structures during their K-12 education in any significant way, and that K-12 did not prepare them for critical thinking at the University level- and in fact often did not meet the criteria laid out in Saskatchewan Curricula. This finding is in general agreement with the literature. However, in addition, most of the students asserted that their experience indicated that high level critical thinking was not actually required for success at the undergraduate level.<p>The data from this thesis suggest that further study may be useful in understanding how critical thinking may be better taught and encouraged at all levels of education.

The purpose of this study was to explore and represent students leadership understandings that emerged from discussions of their past and current leadership experiences in everyday life, their school experiences, and their college level contexts.<p>In this study I used a multiple method (QUAL + QUAL) research design and the data were analyzed within principles of grounded theory drawn from Strauss and Corbins (1998) grounded theory approach. Individual and focus group interviews were the main data collection methods used in this study: individual interviews with fifteen undergraduate education students and six focus group sessions (held in succession) generated the data. <p>As the leadership understandings held by the students unfolded, four broad themes became prominent. The first theme, the ubiquity of relationships, emerged from the students discussions of collaboration, context, power, and vision. Highlighted in these conversations was their perspective that, with respect to leadership, relationships are everything. The second theme included the students understanding that self-esteem and self-actualization were important aspects of effective and energizing leadership. Third, and perhaps more informative, was the manner in which the students articulated their leadership understandings. One of the biggest findings to come out of the study was the students tendency to speak in dualities in order to process, conceptualize, and articulate their leadership understandings. Additionally, the students sensemaking reflected the important role language and framing played in articulating their leadership understandings. Their perspective that small things (positive and negative) had momentum and led to ramifications emerged as the fourth broad theme. In my quest to understand this phenomenon, I developed the concept of leadership throw as the metaphor that conveyed the students understanding of small things having big ramifications. <p>Implications for theory, research, and policy arose from the students beliefs that leadership was collaborative, interactive, and featured the harnessing of individuals skills for the betterment of communities. In view of what was learned about the students use of language, framing, and leadership throw, their leadership synthesis has implications for an enhanced pre-service teacher preparation program suggesting greater congruence with the lived realities of K-12 schools.<p>In conclusion, it became apparent that the students leadership understandings were part content, part process, and part articulation. Remarkably, I came into this research looking for the students denotative leadership understandings and came away from the study with a clearer understanding of language and framing, leadership throw, and the implications of these concepts powerful argument this makes for nurturing student voice and the capability for expression and framing at all levels of leadership, organizational life, and community relations.

Education literature is replete with articles on critical thinking in secondary and post secondary education. However, the bulk of this literature focuses on the process from the educators perspective of student performance and understanding of critical thinking. Very little research seems to have been done to uncover what the students themselves may think. <p>This thesis attempts to address this lack of enquiry into student perceptions by illuminating how a group of pre-service teachers (and one long service master teacher) have experienced critical thinking in their education, and how they define and understand it. The thesis consists of a literature review that briefly examines the history of critical thinking in education, and how student understandings of critical thinking are perceived by professors and others at the post secondary level.<p>Then, through a series of semi-structured interviews, the thesis examines the perspectives of eleven participants in comparison to those commonly held by writers and educators in the field. The data indicate that most of the participants did not acknowledge encountering critical thinking methodologies or structures during their K-12 education in any significant way, and that K-12 did not prepare them for critical thinking at the University level- and in fact often did not meet the criteria laid out in Saskatchewan Curricula. This finding is in general agreement with the literature. However, in addition, most of the students asserted that their experience indicated that high level critical thinking was not actually required for success at the undergraduate level.<p>The data from this thesis suggest that further study may be useful in understanding how critical thinking may be better taught and encouraged at all levels of education.

The major purpose of this study is to explore the pre-service teacher in teaching practicum courses of preservice mentoring process. This study investigated a mentoring program to fifteen Chinese course pre-service training teachers at National Sun Yat-Sen University. It was based on scaffolding, reflective practice, and peer coaching that included series of the mentoring, modeling, practicing, reflecting and discussing activities. We analyzed whether the scaffolding strategies of this program in different stages was helpful to increase pre-service teachers¡¦ reflective and critical abilities of teaching. The program included of many activities in the¡urealization and clarification¡v,¡ucatching and reconstruction¡v and ¡upractice and reflection¡vstages, such as realizing and clarifying personal principles of teaching, experienced and intern teachers¡¦ interviews, the experienced teachers¡¦ teaching demonstration, developing the lesson plans, micro-teaching and teaching practices . Moreover, the issues about courses were also discussed on the internet. Document analysis and surveys were used to investigate the mentoring process, including pre-service teachers¡¦ works, discussion, and studying surveys. This study showed that all pre-service teachers affirmed that the mentoring program was helpful for them to realize, clarify, and even to reconstruct their principles of teaching. Besides, they also realized the current situations in the school. The findings also revealed that the pre-service teachers reconstructed their thinking of teaching, perceived the questions of teaching and changed their behavior of teaching by discussion, feedback, and resources sharing. Although the pre-service teachers perceived this program as helpful, this program was lack of scope and profundity in combining the theory and practice of teaching. This study suggested that more strategies promoted the pre-service teachers¡¦ reflective practice, such as estimating the pre-service teachers¡¦ teaching scheme, organizing a group of mentors and effective scaffolding. The study concluded with some recommendations for the teaching practicum courses of teacher¡¦s education and teaching practical training system.

This dissertation investigates Korean pre-service kindergarten teachers’ practical knowledge regarding teaching circle time developed through both teaching practices and contextual factors during their field experience. To investigate this, a qualitative case study examining four pre-service kindergarten teachers working their field experience was conducted. Data collected through observation, stimulated recall interviews and semi-structured interviews of four participants during field experience was analyzed in order to answer the research questions. Data analysis revealed two major types of practical knowledge for teaching circle time: 1) practical knowledge about classroom management strategies; 2) practical knowledge about the teacher’s role in teacher-children interaction. The findings of the study were organized for presentation in Chapter 4 by combining the types of practical knowledge with separation of pre-existing and developed practical knowledge: the first section covers both pre-existing and developed classroom management strategies; the second section covers both pre-existing and developed practical knowledge regarding the teacher’s role in teacher-children interaction. The third section covers contextual factors which influence that development. While the pre-service teachers may have had sudden moments of inspiration where things coalesced for them, in general practical knowledge was not an instant acquisition. Indeed, this study witnessed what developed though successive teaching practices during their field experience. The use of (stimulated recall) interviews allowed for candid and timely revelations from the pre-service teachers, giving important insight into some specifics on the acquisition of practical knowledge, such as facing challenges as a vehicle for change, and the need for critical reflection. In this study, the primary contextual factor recognized as influencing pre-service teachers’ practical knowledge is the classroom teacher, through modeling and post-lesson conferences. Chapter 5 addresses the significance of the findings of this research and compares it to other research in the field, focusing on three aspects: 1) the specific types of practical knowledge developed through circle time teaching practice; 2) the process of the development of practical knowledge; and; 3) the influence of classroom teachers on that development. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of implications for: 1) pre-service kindergarten teachers at the same stage of their education, 2) teacher educators who are responsible for designing and reforming teacher education programs for pre-service kindergarten teachers, and 3) administrators of teacher education programs who can establish systemized regulations for field experience and recommendations for future research. / text

Following the entry of Cyprus into the European Union in 2004 and based on the philosophy which underpins the language policy in Europe, the island has been investing heavily in early foreign language learning. However, despite improvements in English language learning in primary state schools, no significant changes have been evident as regards the preparation of English teachers at this level. In conducting this research, my primary intention was to offer prospective and practising primary teachers a “voice” to express their own views regarding the content and teaching approach of a potential ELT module within teacher education curricula. The research adopted a mixed-method sequential approach carried out in two phases between March and July 2010. Data were initially obtained from 296 in-service primary teachers and 124 student teachers through a questionnaire-based survey. Data obtained in the second phase through individual and focus group interviews with 9 in-service-teachers and 11 student teachers respectively were used to explain, interpret and further examine the findings of the survey. The findings have highlighted the importance of theory and practice, showing evidence that both are necessary in order to avoid fragmented language teaching. The study suggests, therefore, that providing student teachers with meaningful opportunities to form links between the taught theory and its practical application is a fundamental basis for a more holistic teacher approach to teacher education. This study has also provided evidence that participants view learning as a process embedded in a social context, within which knowledge is constructed through collaborative, awareness-raising tasks set by mentors whose mediating roles in the creation of desirable learning contexts is perceived to be crucial. Although the findings of this research directly concern the Cypriot situation, they are likely to have broader applicability beyond Cyprus, especially in countries where early foreign language learning forms part of their educational agenda. Developing primary teachers’ language teaching knowledge and skills while considering the various types of support they receive during their pre-service education form part of a wider endeavour to ensure quality in early foreign language learning, an objective set by the European Union.

Recent reform efforts in science education have culminated in National Science Education Standards (NSES), which include the nature of science and science inquiry themes across all grade levels. Consideration must be given to pre-service science teachers’ nature of science conceptions and their perceived roles in implementing the nature of science in the science classroom. This qualitative study investigates how pre-service science teachers’ views about the nature of science develop and change when learning a college physics unit on waves in an urban university. The study uses case study methodology with four pre-service science teachers as individual units of analysis. Data regarding the participants’ views about the nature of science were collected before and after the instruction on the physics of waves unit. The research design used ‘The Views of Nature of Science/Views of Scientific Inquiry-Physics Questionnaire’ followed by structured interviews throughout the wave unit. In addition, the participants responded to daily questions that incorporated nature of science themes and constructed concept maps regarding the physics content and their nature of science understanding. After completing the VNOS/VOSI-PHYS questionnaire the pre-service science teachers’ views of the nature of science were found to be mainly naïve and transitional before the instruction. At the end of the wave unit instruction, the data indicated that conceptual change occurred in participants’ nature of science views, shifting toward informed views. The findings of this study provide evidence that using explicit instruction with specific activities, such as experiments and concept mapping, shifted the pre-service science teachers’ views away from naïve and toward informed.