This thesis explores children’s conceptions of the equals sign from the vantage point of notating task design. The existing literature reports that young children tend to view the equals sign as meaning “write the result here”. Previous studies have demonstrated that teaching an “is the same as” meaning leads to more flexible thinking about mathematical notation. However, these studies are limited because they do not acknowledge or teach children that the equals sign also means “can be exchanged for”. The thesis explores the “sameness” and “exchanging” meanings for the equals sign by addressing four research questions. The first two questions establish the distinction, in terms of task design, between the two meanings. Does the “can be exchanged for” meaning for the equals sign promote attention to statement form? Are the “can be exchanged for” and “is the same as” meanings for the equals sign pedagogically distinct? The final two research questions seek to establish how children might coordinate the two meanings, and connect them with their existing implicit knowledge of arithmetic principles. Can children coordinate “can be exchanged for” and “is the same as” meanings for the equals sign? Can children connect their implicit arithmetical knowledge with explicit transformations of notation? The instrument used is a specially designed notational computer-microworld called Sum Puzzles. Qualitative data are generated from trials with pairs of Year 5 (9 and 10 years), and in one case Year 8 (12 and 13 years), pupils working collaboratively with the microworld toward specified task goals. It is discovered that the “sameness” meaning is useful for distinguishing equality statements by truthfulness, whereas the “exchanging” meaning is useful for distinguishing statements by form. Moreover, a duality of both meanings can help children connect their own mental calculation strategies with transformations of properly formed notation.

The purpose of this study was to explore why and how stories and drama can encourage children’s participation in class and also affect their learning of English as a foreign language in Taiwanese primary schools. The author takes a strong interest in both fields, English for Young Learners (EYL) and educational drama, and attempts to propose a solution, story-based drama, to two of the more common problems faced by teachers at primary level—mixed ability classes and limited teaching hours. The key methodological approach was action research in a case study format, using mixed methods and gathering quantitative as well as qualitative data in order to evaluate the impact of the author’s teaching on the children’s English learning. The quantitative research data was gathered with the aid of questionnaires responded to by one hundred and nine teachers and thirty-two fifth graders, while the qualitative data was collected from interviews, participant observation, fieldnotes, journals, artefacts, and video and audio recordings. Quantitative and qualitative data analyses revealed that the incorporation of stories and drama into the existing school curriculum was workable, and the story-based drama assisted the pupils to have greater participation in class and a higher degree of improvements than before in terms of their four language and non-verbal communication skills. This was corroborated by questionnaire results, interviewees’ responses, the co-teacher’s observations, and the pupils’ written work. The author recommends that a collaborative approach to curriculum design and research methodology could be adopted by teachers themselves or between teachers and researchers in order to stimulate more research on the use of story-based drama in similar contexts, while deepening our understanding of this resourceful teaching approach.

There is evidence to suggest that age (natural maturation and informal experience) and schooling (formal instruction at school) have differing effects on the development of cognitive skills between the ages of 5 and 7. There is also evidence that children who start learning how to read later in childhood make faster progress than those who start earlier in childhood. However, previous studies on reading development have typically confounded age with length of schooling. The current thesis investigates the separate role of each on the development of early literacy and related skills by comparing matched groups of children differing in either exposure to formal reading instruction or chronological age. Two longitudinal studies are presented, with seven key findings. Chapter 2 presents a cross-sectional study (n = 93) comparing a group of later-schooled 7 year olds with two control groups at the beginning of their first year of reading instruction (earlier-schooled ‘reading controls’ and earlier-schooled ‘age controls’). First, it was shown that vocabulary and short-term verbal memory skills developed with age, not schooling. Second, it was found that phoneme awareness can develop in the absence of formal reading instruction, and that this was more likely to happen in older than younger children. Chapter 3 presents a longitudinal study (n = 61) following the progress of the first two groups from chapter 2; a group of Steiner-educated 7 years olds (later-schooled group) and a group of standard-educated 4 year olds (earlier-schooled group) during their first two years of formal literacy instruction. Results showed that the older age and superior reading-related skills of the first group did not lead to faster progress in reading, and in fact this group showed worse progress in spelling. The good progress of the earlier-schooled group was attributed to more consistent and high quality phonics instruction. By comparing the predictors of reading and spelling in the two groups presented in chapter 3, chapter 4 showed that the skills underlying literacy development were similar in older and younger beginning readers, but that instructional emphasis on letter-sound knowledge in the earlier-schooled group reduced its power as a predictor. Chapter 5 used mediation analyses to show that letter-sound knowledge led to phonological awareness, which in turn led to reading in the earlier-schooled children, an effect which was attributed to the method of synthetic phonics instruction administered to these children. No significant mediation was shown in the later-schooled group. Chapter 6 presents a longitudinal study (n = 45) of the first two years of schooling in a standard school using the cut-off design. Results revealed that a dynamic measure was more effective than a static measure for measuring phoneme awareness in young children. Finally, there was an effect of both age and schooling on the development of phoneme awareness and early reading and spelling skills. These studies demonstrate that age-related factors in addition to schooling play a significant role in the development of reading-related skills. However, although there was evidence of an age effect on literacy skills during the first year of standard schooling (chapter 6), there was only limited evidence of such an effect over a larger age range (chapter 3). In conclusion, it is suggested that concerns that age 4-5 is too early to learn to read are unfounded, and that a delay in school entry age will not necessarily lead to benefits in the acquisition of reading.

Children’s failure to re-use knowledge will continue to be problematic until processes that contribute to conceptual growth are better understood. The notion that conceptual knowledge, soundly constructed and reinforced, forms the basis of future learning, as the learner uses it unproblematically to make sense of new situations in related areas, is appealing. This thesis will show this to be an overly simplistic view of learning, failing to take sufficient account of fine-grained processes that contribute to the micro-evolution of knowledge and of connections between cognition and other factors. Much previous research focused on abstraction as key to learning. This thesis examines the role of abstraction in the development of mathematics concepts by children aged 8-9 years, using negative numbers as a window on their development of knowledge in a new domain. The assumption, prevalent in the literature, that abstraction is a requirement for transfer of knowledge is questioned. Three research questions are explored: 1. What resources shape the nature of transfer and the growth of knowledge about negative numbers? 2. What is the role of the interplay of resources in the microtransfer of knowledge about negative numbers? 3. What is the relationship between abstracting and transferring knowledge about negative numbers? Methodology is based on a case study approach, initially recording the work of 3 small groups of children throughout a series of tasks and using progressive focusing techniques to create two case studies which are analysed in depth. The thesis reports how the extent of conceptual development about negative numbers was influenced by interpersonal and intrapersonal learner characteristics, and describes a complex interplay between cognitive and affective factors. Micro-transfer and intermediate abstractions, and reinforcement of the connections that these construct, are found to be crucial for conceptual growth, though abstraction is not a condition for transfer at the micro-level.

This research focuses on the reflection practices of 45 young learners of English in Brunei Darussalam. The purpose of the research was to ascertain the feasibility of employing a reflection exercise, as a core component of a writing portfolio assessment procedure, in the context of Brunei Darussalam. The research adopted a case study approach which was specifically aimed at: a) examining the reflection criteria used by pupils; b) identifying any developmental pattern of reflection in the use of these criteria: and c) determining the correlation between writing performance and the pattern of progression in reflection. The findings of the study suggest that the pupils made use of a number of criteria which can be grouped into three categories according to the extent of their approximation to the concept of reflection and their focus on the writing pieces being reflected on. In terms of progression, it was found that a large number of pupils were considered mixed in their reflection, a third showed positive progression, while a small number failed to progress. The correlation between the pupils' writing performance and their progression in reflection was found to be significant, especially among female pupils. The implications of the findings, among others, are that: a) the concept of reflection within portfolio assessment is generally practicable among the young learners in the context of Brunei Darussalam; b) some evidence for positive progression in the use of the selection criteria categories essentially illustrates the pupils' ability to shift the focus of their reflection; c) the evidence to suggest the link between performance in writing and progression in reflection calls for more investigation possibly with the involvement of a larger population sampling. These implications are significant not only for the research community, where there is a clear lack of research of this kind with young learners or learners of English as a foreign language; but also for the Brunei Darussalam context where portfolio assessment is one new approach to assessment being recommended to schools.

This research project aimed to explore the impact of paid additional adults in classrooms on pupils and teachers in their day to day lives in primary schools. The project was devised and conducted against the backdrop of the class size discourse and in the context of Scottish primary school education system. In recent years the composition of the workforce in primary schools in Scotland has changed. This research project focused on the introduction of classroom assistants in primary schools in Scotland. There was little in the research literature that focused on pupil/adult ratios in primary school classes. There was a gap in the research and literature on the perceptions and experiences of pupils in this changing school and classroom environment. Data on the tasks and activities of classroom assistants were collected. This project investigated these three themes. In order to explore the complex real life setting of the primary school classroom the research design chosen allowed the researcher to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The participants in the case study were drawn from three primary schools in the city of Aberdeen. In each of these three schools one middle stages class (primary four or five) its teacher and classroom assistant formed the participants in the case study. The researcher undertook direct observation of teachers and classroom assistants in their work place setting using an observation schedule. The data collected during this phase of the project was enhanced and supported by qualitative data from the participants from semi-structured interviews and focus group sessions. In addition the researcher’s in depth knowledge of the primary school class setting, her awareness and understanding of relationships and roles of the participants added strength to the validity of the data collected. This multiple small-scale multi-method study allowed the researcher to create a detailed description of the impact of classroom assistants on the day to day experiences of teachers and pupils in primary schools. The influence of classroom assistant support was seen in teacher behaviour, workload and the activities they undertook. The researcher also found evidence to support the positive influence of classroom assistants on pupil behaviour.

Emotions have been found to be intertwined with many aspects of the learning process (Hinton & Fischer, 2010; Linnenbrink, 2007; Meyer & Turner, 2006; Pekrun, Frenzel, Goetz & Perry, 2007). For some children emotions appear to have a debilitating effect on their effort, persistence and problem-solving and can lead to task avoidance and self-defeating behaviours (Linnenbrink, 2007; Tyson, Linnenbrink-Garcia & Hill, 2009). The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the impact of a four-week whole-class intervention designed by the researcher to promote pupils’ emotion regulation in the classroom. The study uses a social cognitive framework (Bandura, 1986) and draws on theory and research in the inter-related fields of appraisal theories of emotion (Frijda,1986), the control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006; Pekrun, Frenzel, Goetz & Perry, 2007), implicit theories of ability and achievement goal orientation (Dweck, 2000; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Pintrich, 2000), the dual-process model of self-regulated learning (Boekaerts, 2011) and the process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 1998; 2002). The research took place in two London primary schools with 166 Year 5 pupils (mean age 10.4 years) and four class teachers. For the quantitative part of the study, a non-equivalent groups pre and post experimental design with a waiting list control group was used. The qualitative part of the study involved questionnaires completed by 113 intervention pupils and the four class teachers. Inferential statistical analysis revealed a statistically significant effect of time on intervention pupils’ incremental theory of ability, mastery goal orientation and use of the cognitive reappraisal strategy. The perceptions of pupils and teachers of the impact of the intervention were explored using thematic analysis. The findings from both phases were merged to answer the overarching research question. Implications for educational psychologists and educators are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.

This study investigates the relationship between teacher’s presentation and children’s understanding of the number line within an English primary school that follows the curricular guidance presented within the National Numeracy Strategy (DfEE, 1999a). Following an exploratory study, which guided the development of a questionnaire, the preparation of a pilot study, and the initial investigation with the trainee teachers, the study was re-conceptualised to consider the way in which teachers within each year group of a primary school used the number line and the ways in which their children conceptualized and interpreted it. Using a mixed methodology, the theoretical framework of the study draws upon methods associated with case study, action research and ethnography and involved the use of questionnaires, teacher observations and interviews with selected children. Analysis of the questionnaire data is mainly through the use of descriptive statistics that lead to discussion on children’s embodiments of the number line, their interpretations of what it is and their accuracy in estimating magnitudes. The results of the study suggest that conceptualising the number line as a continuous rather than discrete representation of the number system that evolves for the notion of a repeated unit was less important than carrying out actions on the number line. It is suggested that this emphasis caused ambiguity in the way teachers referred to the number line and restricted understanding amongst the children that focused upon the ordering of numbers and the actions that could be associated with this ordering. The results also suggest that children’s conceptions of magnitude on a segmented 0 to 100 number line neither meet objectives specified within the National Numeracy Strategy nor confirm hypothesised models that suggest a linear or logarithmic pattern of accuracy. The number line is seen to be a tool but its use as a tool becomes limited because teachers, and consequently children, display little if any awareness of its underlying structure and its strength as a representation of the number system.

The central focus of this study is to explore how learner-centredness is perceived and practised by Chinese primary EFL teachers in the recent national curriculum reform in China, which promotes learner-centred ideology in all school subjects beginning from 2001. Following an introduction to the research context, the study begins with a comprehensive literature review for the purpose of finding out where and how notions of learner-centredness originated and developed in the West from the past to the present, from general education to the field of English language teaching, along with doubts, criticisms, and confusions gathered around the ideology. This is followed by a review of studies on learner-centred educational reforms in developing countries. Chinese philosophical thoughts, traditional educational practices, and recent research efforts into learner-centred teaching are also reviewed to highlight the influence of specific cultural contexts for implementing such an ideology. To investigate the Chinese primary EFL teachers' views on and practices in learner-centredness, this study adopted a mixed mode of research methods using both quantitative and qualitative techniques to collect data in order not only to reveal the scale of impact of the curriculum reform on teachers' views and practices but also to provide an in-depth understanding of teachers' classroom behaviours with regard to learner-centredness. The study involved a large scale questionnaire survey of 1000 primary EFL teachers and 18 classroom observations of teachers acknowledged as being good teachers along with various forms of teacher interviews by which teachers' beliefs and behaviours regarding learner-centredness were studied. The main findings from the study are as follows: (1) Chinese primary EFL teachers overwhelmingly welcomed the new ideology for curriculum change while pedagogically they preferred a middle path - the teacher-directed learner-centred approach (TDLC). (2) Both their beliefs and reported practices reflected a mixture of learner-centred and teacher-centred teaching. (3) Classroom practices of 18 teachers representing good practices at the time of the study showed clear Chinese characteristics of teacher-directed learning centred teaching. Based on the data collected from different sources, the cultural appropriateness of learner-centred teaching in the Chinese context is discussed. A reconceptualisation of the concept for the Chinese primary EFL context is drawn from teachers' views, which contributes to a better understanding of Chinese primary EFL teachers' perceptions and practices of learner-centredness in China. The research has important implications for teacher educators in understanding and supporting teachers for curriculum change and for research into learner-centred education in different contexts as well as for research into primary EFL in other developing countries.

This study examines four restorative justice (RJ) conferences which took place during one term in an urban primary school. Although there is much research on the effectiveness of RJ, there is apparently no research to date which looks at the workings of RJ in terms of how it is co-constructed in situ by the participants. This study uses conversation analysis (CA) to document and inspect how the conferences work. Findings demonstrate the potential of CA to generate rich information about the mechanics of RJ conferences in schools and are used to suggest that this type of analysis on a larger scale could contribute to greater understanding of why such a highly verbalised intervention works, despite the likelihood that pupil-participants may be at an elevated risk of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). It is also suggested that teacher talk has great potential to support children’s communication skills during RJ conferences, by using and shaping talk to encourage pupil reflection on psychological states. As such it may be one of the few interventions to address SLCN and behaviour simultaneously.