The purpose of this study is to examine teachers’ perceptions of language development in social studies. Questions that will try to be answered are: How do teachers in social studies regarding grades 4-6 account for pupils’ language development in planning, teaching and grading? What difficulties do teachers experience while working with language development? What kind of support do teachers feel that they need in order to work effectively with language development? Research has showed that language is our primary tool for learning in all subjects. A language developing education is contextual, contains scaffolding and a lot of opportunities for interaction. Teachers have an important role to play in creating context that benefits pupils’ knowledge, linguistic and personal development. Earlier studies have showed that many teachers lack competence in how to work with language and knowledge development. This study concludes that teachers take into account pupils’ prior knowledge and that they understand the importance of working with different methods based on interaction and scaffolding to develop their pupils’ subject and linguistic capability. The main difficulty that teachers reported was the difficulty in adapting the education to the pupils’ different abilities. They also acknowledged the development of the specialized school language with its abstract words as a difficulty. Teachers reported that the best support in this process was collegial learning, internal education and language development models/tools.

This project appears to be the first to determine growth rates for writing using Curriculum-Based Measurement-Written Expression (CBM-WE). Growth rates, or the amount of change over time, help educators track how much progress can be expected given typical instruction. CBM-WE probes were administered to a sample of 1,004 students in first through fifth grades within a school district. The writing probes were scored using production-dependent variables: Total Words Written (TWW), Words Spelled Correctly (WSC), and Correct Word Sequence (CWS). Data were analyzed by grade level and gender. Results are presented as weekly growth rates. Growth rates were calculated from fall to winter, winter to spring, and from fall to spring. This study found higher growth rates in the lower grades and the lowest growth rates in fifth grade. Negative growth was found when examining winter to spring scores for students in third through fifth grades. Girls typically showed more improvement than boys. Results will be beneficial for educators to understand and monitor elementary student progress in written expression.

The aim of this study is to understand the present situation of language domain teachers¡¦ stages of concern and layers of adoption about integrating information technology into instruction after carrying out 1st ¡V 9st grades curriculum Alignment in junior high school in Kaohsiung City. In the meanwhile investigating the relationship between stages of concern and layers of adoption, different backgrounds of teachers, school factors, willing of teacher about integrating information technology into instruction. Exploring the perspectives of teacher, obstructive factors and what kind of the motive factors that can improve teachers¡¦ stages of concern and layers of adoption about integrating information technology into instruction technology into instruction. ¡§Integrating information technology into instruction stages of concern scale¡¨, and¡¨ integrating information technology into instruction layers of adoption scale¡¨ are adopted as the instruments of analysis in this study. The major findings of this study are followed: 1.The personal stages of concern is the most strongest stages of concern when teacher face to the integrating information technology into instruction. Consequence stages of concern is the second strongest stages of concern. Preparation and orientation layers of adoption is the most proportion layers of teacher¡¦s layers of adoption. 2.There are significant differences language domain teachers¡¦ stages of concern about integrating information technology into instruction in junior high school with the term of the age of teacher, the seniority of teacher, school have had the experience of integrating information technology into instruction seminar, whether computer in classroom or not, at what time computer become the necessary tool, the willing of using the new teaching method, the willing of co-operated policy or the regulation of carry out the integrating information technology into instruction activities of an administrative of school, the academic degrees, time of using computer, 3.There are significant differences and relationship between teacher¡¦s stages of concern and layers of adoption about integrating information technology into instruction in junior high school in Kaohsiung City. 4.The encouraging factors of stages of concern and layers of adoption about integrating information technology into instruction were not influenced by background of language domain teacher in junior high school in Kaohsiung City. And the contents of perspectives of teacher are similar to encouraging factors, obstructive factors, and the starting point motive of teacher about integrating information technology into instruction. The most main mixed factors including: (1)sufficient hardware and software facilities resource, and convenient of using (2)the willing, motive, improving interest of study of student (3)policy and administration (4)the challenge of job itself(5) the growth of individual and disciplines (6)cooperation of colleague, assistance, and share motive factors (7)teacher short of time to prepare etc¡K.Those factors mention above are all included in the content of perspectives of teacher. Therefore the content of perspectives of measured teacher can be the evidence reference of encouraging factors, obstructive factors, and the starting point motive of teacher about integrating information technology into instruction, including quantitative analysis.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 278-291). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 278-291). Also available on the Internet.

Swedes’ proficiency in English is often high up in the world rankings among the countries in which English is an L2[1]. Learners of English are routinely tested in the Swedish school system, using standardized national tests to measure how well students are doing nationwide, whilst also providing teachers with sometimes essential assistance in grading students’ language skills. At the end of year 9, students should have developed “all-round communicative skills”. But how do we determine what having “all-round communicative skills” constitutes? What are learners’ attitudes towards and perception of what they learn, how they learn it and their own present ability? What are some areas in which they believe they can improve the most, and is there a preferred way to learn a specific skill? Is communicative competence even focused on in the classroom, and if it is – how and how often? The purpose of this study is threefold: to identify how communicatively competent students in year 9 consider themselves in comparison to their peers; how much they believe that they work with communicative competence in school; and what they perceive to be their weakness and area of communicative competence that could be improved most. Secondarily, are there any differences in what is believed to be focused on in class between students and teachers? To answer these questions, an overview of the aspects that together constitutes being communicatively competent based on relevant previous research will be provided. The aims of English as a school subject in Swedish schools are studied in order to see what the goals are, according to the curriculum. After collecting data using interviews and a questionnaire, results indicate that students are not always aware of when and how classroom activities are designed to improve communicative competence. Students in general also seemingly have a varying opinion on what areas they have the most potential for improvement in. There is thus a disparity between learners’ expectations and perception of their own needs, and teachers’ opinions of what requires improvement and how learning of communicative skills is best done. [1] In the writing process, a decision was made to call English an L2 and not a FL throughout the study, since they are still trying to learn another language than their L1 in either case (Yule, 2014, p. 187).

This study aims to investigate how teachers at upper secondary school understand the concept of language-developing work methods and whether they define this method in a similar way. Further, this study aims to investigate how teachers put those methods into practical use in the classroom. The data has been collected through interviews with six teachers at two different municipal upper secondary schools. The results have been analysed from a sociocultural perspective. The results show that all teachers in the study claim that there is a particular school language but they differ in how they define and deliberately work with language-developing work methods. They all claim the method is carried out through interaction and that teachers act as a supporting figure. Knowledge, understanding and motivation are affected positively with the students. Conclusively, teachers differ in how they understand the meaning of language-developing work methods and in-service training is important to improve this understanding. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur några gymnasielärare förstår innebörden i språkutvecklande arbetssätt och om de definierar språkutvecklande arbetssätt på liknande sätt. Vidare syftar studien till att undersöka hur de omsätter sådana arbetssätt i praktiken tillsammans med sina elever. Studiens data har samlats in genom samtalsintervjuer med sex lärare som arbetar på gymnasiet i två olika kommuner och resultatet har analyserats med hjälp av ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. Resultatet visar att alla lärare i studien menar att det finns ett speciellt skolspråk och att det skiljer sig åt hur lärarna definierar och medvetet arbetar med språkutvecklande arbetssätt. Gemensamt har de dock att det språkutvecklande arbetet sker med hjälp av interaktion och alla lärare går också att se som den mer kompetenta personen som stöttar eleverna på något sätt. Lärarna menar också att det språkutvecklande arbetet påverkar elevernas kunskaper, motivation och förståelse av sammanhang positivt. Slutsatser som dragits är bland annat att det skiljer sig åt mellan hur lärarna förstår innebörden i språkutvecklande arbetssätt och att fortbildning spelar roll när det gäller hur medvetet de arbetar med det.

The aim of this paper is to analyze data that was collected in 2003 and 2004 in order to ascertain the claim made by Kiswahili stakeholders that the status of Kiswahili in secondary schools in Tanzania has dropped. The finding reveal that the number of periods allocated to Kiswahili is fewer than English. Secondly, whenever there is a shortage of Kiswahili teachers, any member of the teaching staff or even non-specialists are called upon to fill the gap. Thirdly, we note that Kiswahili teachers have never had the opportunity to attend any Kiswahili seminar since they graduated from colleges. Fourthly, the Ministry of Education and Culture has issued a circular to schools barring the students from speaking Kiswahili at the school compound to enable them to become proficient in English language. Considering the above findings, this study confirms that the status of Kiswahili in secondary schools in Tanzania has diminished.

Spanning over 2 000 years, teaching languages through drama is nothing new. Despite promising international research on the topic of teaching English as a second language (ESL) through drama, few to no studies have been conducted to assess its pedagogical value in the Swedish elementary school context. The national curriculum in Sweden promotes playful learning, with drama being included as a viable teaching activity for English in grades 4-6. Through five semi-structured interviews, this study explores how teachers in Sweden employ drama and role-play-based methods, but also how they perceive these method’s impact on students’ language skills. A thematic analysis of the teacher interviews suggests that drama and role-play can have positive effects, both in terms of academic skills development and in terms of affective factors related to the English subject. However, the teachers express concern that drama can give rise to unwanted behavior and bullying, which underlines the importance of a safe and supportive classroom environment before implementing drama-based tasks. Overall, the results seem to be in line with previous research on the topic and may thus be of relevance to the Swedish educational context. This study’s main limitation is its sole reliance on teachers who have a positive attitude towards drama and role-play. Therefore, further research could involve teachers who have used drama-based methods but found dissatisfying outcomes.

The development of language and communication skills in young children is directly related to future academic success. Young children who are at risk for language impairment should, therefore, be identified as early as possible so that their language development may be optimised. Multilingualism, which has become a universal phenomenon, may mask the presence of language impairment if the pre-school teacher or speech-language therapist is not proficient in the young multilingual learner’s primary language. In some urban areas of South Africa, where many languages are represented in each pre-school classroom, it is likely that the teacher or therapist will lack proficiency in the primary language of quite a number of the pre-school learners. In these contexts, the language of mutual understanding is English and assessment of learners’ language behaviour will also be conducted in English. Against this background the aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of constructing a profile of typical English language behaviours for pre-school EAL learners in a circumscribed urban area. The profile is intended to provide speech-language therapists and pre-school teachers in collaborative practice with a dual-purpose tool: an instrument for identifying those learners who are at risk for language impairment/language learning disabilities, and a means of obtaining guidelines for the development of an appropriate programme for facilitating language development. The literature study reviewed the language diversity in South African pre-schools, and the role of speech-language therapists in these multilingual pre-schools. The aspects of language to be included in a profile of typical English language behaviours for young EAL learners were discussed. A quantitative descriptive research design was selected. The language database for 30 EAL pre-schoolers from a circumscribed geographical area was collected during 20 minutes of conversation between each pre-school participant and a trained speech-language therapist who acted as research fieldworker. The language data was analysed to identify typical language behaviours relating to language form, language content and language use. The results show that it was possible to construct a profile of typical English language behaviours for nine aspects of language form, one aspect of language content, and six aspects of language use. The information was used to construct two versions of a profile of typical English language behaviours, as well as a profile of risk indicators for language impairment in the specified group of EAL pre-schoolers. An action plan was designed to indicate the way in which these three profiles – the comprehensive profile, the essential classroom profile, and the profile of risk indicators – may be used by the collaborative team of speech-language therapist and pre-school teacher for language assessment, the identification of learners with language impairment, and the facilitation of language development for all EAL learners. / Thesis (DPhil (Communication Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / Unrestricted