Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-159). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-78). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

This thesis explores the social construction of classed, ‘raced’ and gendered identities of Bengali female learners of ESOL (English for Speakers of other languages) from a post-structuralist feminist position. My research is conducted within the post-compulsory educational context, exploring how Bengali women construct identities in relation to educational experiences of learning English as a second language, and considering how Bengali women are positioned, in turn, by contemporary popular, academic and political discourses. This study is intended to contribute to creating ‘a third space’, within which shifts in cultural meanings that occur through colonialisation and diaspora, offer possibilities for reworking and resisting notions of passivity, inactivity and docility assigned to women within popular and some white academic discourses (Hall, 1992; Khan, 1998; Gilroy, 1992; Spivak, 1999). To open up spaces for non-hegemonic readings of Bengali femininities I identified discursive strategies actively employed by Bengali women to trouble/unsettle dominant discourses that reduce Bengali women to ‘docile bodies’ (Foucault, 1979). Applying a feminist post-structuralist framework has illuminated differences and similarities between, and within, Bengali women’s accounts of ESOL education, to substantiate the view that there is no one truth and no unitary subject. I also draw upon post-colonial, black feminist perspectives to argue that the voices from the margins that have traditionally been excluded from the knowledge making processes can bring into dispute the current discourses about ’race’, class, gender, culture, religion, patriarchy and femininity. The research was undertaken at two educational sites in East and central London over five years. In total, 20 Bengali female learners of ESOL participated in life history interviews over the period of 2 years. The sample was diverse in terms of age, class, education, employment, marital and maternal status. In addition, I also conducted one-to-one interviews with two members of teaching staff per institution. I do not present my interpretations of Bengali female accounts of employment and education as ‘truth’ since post-structuralist approaches challenge the notion of singular truth for all South Asian women. Rather I present these accounts as alternative truths which expand and challenge deep-seated inequalities that position South Asian women as passive victims within existing, dominant oppressive discourses.

People perceive children’s behaviour in many ways based on their own socio-cultural beliefs. Research in western countries has looked at behavioural problems from a psychological/ scientific perspective. However, perception of what kind of behaviour is unacceptable depends significantly on the socio-cultural context of a country. In this regard, the current study investigated the perspective of teachers and parents on children’s behaviour in early childhood, both at school and home to ascertain what constitutes socially acceptable behaviour in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to investigate the parents’ and teachers’ perception of socially acceptable and unacceptable behaviours of pre-school children in Saudi Arabia. The study employed a mixed methods approach and used questionnaires and focus groups as data collection instruments. Data revealed that disobedient behaviour is socially unacceptable in the Saudi Arabian society because of the culture and moral standards that influence behaviours. The high-power distance culture of Saudi Arabia values authority and is strictly against acts of disobedience towards those who are perceived to have a higher social status. This research finds that parents’ perception of socially acceptable behaviour among preschool children is heavily influenced by Saudi culture and other factors, such as whether the family is a single-child or multiple-child family. The education, knowledge and experience of the parents, as well as their age, somewhat affects their perception of socially acceptable behaviour in Saudi Arabia. This research also finds that the perception of teachers and parents on socially unacceptable behaviour in pre-school children differs in certain matters, with parents generally presenting a more liberal view than the teachers. These differences stem from several factors, such as different kind of relationships that these individuals have with the children, the environment in which they observe the children and their professional qualification and experience in dealing with such behaviour.

This thesis is an exploration of the inter-relationship between class transition and education, in a bid to understand the impact of both in the formation of self and identity. This thesis considers that processes of recognition, deeply personal, but also located in institutional encounters, are essential to moving beyond feelings of illegitimacy and to moving across class boundaries. It is a story of one woman’s agency and greater capacity to talk truth to power. Using an auto/biographical approach, I illustrate how education has enabled me to cross class boundaries to become a senior lecturer in a university, and to confront how my class origins and family status have had an enduring impact on my epistemological beliefs. I highlight how misrecognition can become a source of agency, to the benefit of self and those whom I teach. Drawing on critical theory and feminist approaches, I argue that auto/biography provides a legitimate means of illuminating the minutiae of self/other encounters. A psycho-social multidisciplinary lens encompassing concepts of habitus and recognition, has enabled me to chronicle and theorise the lived experience of class relations and how these can be understood and transcended. This is a story of ‘une miraculée’ (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990). Using the theories of Pierre Bourdieu and Axel Honneth, as interpretive frameworks, I present a phenomenological perspective of what it is like to be a ‘lecturer from the working class’ in class-ridden society and a neoliberal education system, and the disrespect and misrecognition these can bring. Writing auto/biographically, augmented by the use of a collaborative narrative approach (Arvay, 1998), I confront feelings of illegitimacy in academia and demonstrate how undertaking the PhD has had an impact on me personally and professionally. The aim of this thesis was to speak the truth about the dominant middle class ideology in the academy; and to challenge the academic community, in particular middle class colleagues, to confront their unconscious class prejudices. Furthermore, I anticipate that this research will make an important contribution to the existing research paradigm that uses auto/biographical approaches to show the lived experiences of people’s lives; and show that writing auto/biographically is therapeutic, educational and reflexive, as well as agentic.

This intervention study investigated whether children aged seven to ten years, experiencing difficulty developing literacy skills, could increase their phonological awareness and spelling skills by participating in a program lasting for 20 hours. A single subject, multiple base-line design was used with six participants. Phonological awareness blending and segmenting skills as well as single word writing skills were practiced explicitly and systematically in a highly structured program. Written words included mono-syllables, multi-syllabic words and words with derivational and inflectional morphemes. The words in the program focused on words with consistent sound-letter correspondence. All participants scored in the normal range for phonological awareness skills after the first 5 hours of instruction. Gains in phonological awareness skills did not influence spelling skills. Single word spelling only increased when writing skills were specifically targeted. All participants showed improvements in sound-letter correspondence writing skills. Some small, inconsistent gains were made in overall spelling skills.

The purpose of this study is to illuminate and richly describe five Chinese graduate students' learning experiences in subject area classrooms in a Canadian university. Using a case study qualitative inquiry approach, the researcher conducted five individual interviews, one focus group interview and five follow-up interviews on five Chinese graduate students in the Spring 2007. The findings of the current study indicate that the participants encountered difficulty when they were learning in a Canadian university in a second language environment but also they enjoyed support at the same time. Different strategies that Chinese students employed to deal with the course work were reported. The findings also indicate that instructors played a major role in their learning process. When the instructors valued students' input and selected topics where Chinese students could contribute, students were eager to participate in classroom activities. Discussions and implications are included for both teachers and students in the field of second language learning and teaching and for university administration. In the Canadian classroom there is a need to address professional development to prepare the instructors in understanding learning experiences of second language learners.

This study examined if and how participation in a community mapping project influenced grade four students’ environmental worldviews immediately after and three months after the culmination of the project. A mixed methods approach was used as students completed pre-test, post-test, and follow-up New Ecological Paradigm for Children scales and participated in post-test and follow-up interviews. Students’ overall NEP scores were pro-environmental at each point in the study and the students’ scores on the Rights of Nature factor improved significantly from the pre-test to the follow-up. Students’ interview comments suggested improvements in environmental knowledge and attitude, understanding of humans’ environmental impacts, and connection to place. The results of the study have implications for future research and environmental education curriculum and instruction.

Child and Youth Care students were asked: How do you experience gender conversations in the classroom? The participants of this study include three female and two male graduate students at the University of Victoria's School of Child and Youth Care. The study utilized a semi-structured approach, and participants were interviewed by telephone. A phenomenological approach guided the data analysis. Participants reported dissatisfaction with the current lack of gender content in the curriculum and believed more gender content would be beneficial to their understanding of the gender based concerns of their clients as well as the gender realities of CYC practice. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the SCYC implement a variety of strategies to increase the gender content in their curriculum.

This thesis explores how teachers are shown on-screen by asking the following questions: do on-screen, fictional portrayals of high school teachers affect student perceptions of their own teachers and further, how do these perceptions affect student-teacher relations and expectations of the classroom experience? Ten high school students in grades eleven and twelve were interviewed using surveys, one-on-one interviews, and a focus group. The findings revealed that fictional representations affect students in a multitude of ways, namely in student’s expectations of teachers and schooling and in how individual identities are formed and fostered. This study also found that while the participants demonstrated many critical literacy skills, they were noticeably lacking in others, thus speaking to the need for increased critical literacy education in our schools.