This study investigated collaborative online reading from a Sociocultural Theory (SCT) perspective. Building on, yet transcending, research into learning strategies, the research focused on the concepts of mediational tool use, strategic behavior, and patterns of dialogic engagement of college student dyads as they completed a series of three collaborative WebQuests in a beginning German as a Foreign Language (GFL) class. On-screen actions and verbal interaction of six dyads of beginning GFL students were recorded during three short-term, collaborative WebQuests. Full motion screen recordings were transcribed, and relevant episodes were coded for mediational tool use and strategic behaviors. All dyads used their L1 as well as the L2 in mediating task success. The distinction between L1 and L2 was fluid, as students accessed a combination of psychological tools according to their own goals, ability, and orientation. Although the L1 was the dominant tool employed by the participants in this study, over time some students were able to use the foreign language as a psychological tool for completing the assigned task. Eleven combinations of mediational tool use were identified and related to levels of regulation. Students strategic behaviors fell into five categories: affective, contextual, socio-procedural, cognitive, and other. The ratio between constructive and destructive strategic behaviors provided insight into the overall collaborative climate. Cognitive strategies were further divided into three theoretically salient categories: mediation a student s own regulation of L2 tool use, mediating the partner s regulation of L2 tool use and mediating collective regulation of L2 tool use. Student dyads exhibited high frequencies of both self-mediation and collective mediation, which indicates that these students were working in their own and their partner s zone of proximal development. The nature of the dialogic engagement varied by dyad, but remained relatively stable over time. Students goals and orientation towards the task impacted their overall collaboration. The role and development of L2 proficiency warrants further investigation. In peer collaboration, more symmetric dyad constellations may lead to more collective scaffolding and more positive dialogic engagement.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential use of Second Life (Linden Labs, 2004) and Skype (Skype Limited, 2009) as simulated virtual professional development tools for pre-service teachers seeking endorsement in teaching English as a Second Official Language (ESOL. Second Life is an avatar-based Internet program that allows end-users to interact, using audio and chat features, with a digital representation of themselves (an avatar). Skype is an Internet-based video conferencing program that allows users to see each other by way of a webcam. Of particular interest to this study was how a group of 12 pre-service teacher education students internalized professional knowledge and if that knowledge was actually transferred into active teaching practice and professional identity development. To investigate this knowledge transfer, an exploratory case study (Yin, 2008) was conducted framed around the theories of sociocultural constructivism (Kanuka & Anderson, 1999; Vygotsky, 1978) and critical pedagogy (Freire, 1990). The components of one module from the ESOL II course that addressed hegemonic curriculum and teaching practices were recreated in Second Life and Skype or analysis. Using within-case analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1994), vignettes (Ely, Vinz, Downing, & Anzul, 1997; Spalding & Phillips, 2007), and tallied collaborative utterances (Erben 2001), developmental progressions among the pre-service teachers were examined from the beginning to the end of the module and were evaluated for their relevance to knowledge transfer and self-regulation. The interactions were also examined for instances of amplifications and reductions of pedagogic practices (Erben 1999) through collaborative dialogue (Bakhtin, 2006; Erben, 2001; Wertsch, 1991). The findings of this study suggested the positive potential of using Second Life and Skype to enable self-regulation and pedagogic transformations to occur among the participants with appropriate considerations acknowledged for the teaching audience, developmental goals, and venue of instruction.

Heritage speakers of Chinese languages in Asia: Sociocultural factors that affect their proficiency in Mandarin Chinese discusses several of the reasons that some Asian ethnic Chinese are more proficient at Mandarin Chinese than others. This research was conducted in Taiwan between 2009 and 2011. Research subjects were of Chinese ethnicity, citizens of Asian nations and regions other than the People’s Republic of China or the Republic of China ( Taiwan ), and present in Taiwan as students of Mandarin Chinese and/or various academic subjects. The research question consisted of an overarching question and three sub-questions; the overarching question was: What is the experience of heritage speakers of Chinese languages in Asian countries where Mandarin is not the dominant language?, and the three sub-questions were: 1.) What sociocultural factors result in heritage speakers’ Mandarin learning/development being enhanced?; 2.) What sociocultural factors result in heritage speakers’ Mandarin learning/development being suppressed/not enhanced?; and 3.) Why are ethnic Chinese from non-Chinese nations studying Mandarin in Taiwan ? The researcher also unearthed what is possibly a new paradigm for a “heritage speaker of Mandarin Chinese” in an Asian context. Heritage Mandarin speakers in an Asian context may be a hybrid construct: speakers of a Chinese language with solid skills in the home language, a high degree of contact with Mandarin Chinese in the environment, and the capacity to rapidly acquire Mandarin and enhance one’s skills readily via the advantage of scaffolding at a higher starting point due to already being versed in one or more Chinese language. Some of the salient sociocultural factors which were shown to enhance the Mandarin skills of this population were: similarity of home’s or region’s Chinese language to Mandarin, exposure to Mandarin in the environment, policies favorable to or accepting of this language group and culture, and Mandarin as a medium of classroom instruction. Reasons for studying in Taiwan included its low costs and authentic Chinese environment. It is hoped that this study will inform efforts in the teaching of Mandarin to heritage speakers. It is further hoped that stakeholders who deal with heritage speaker issues consider not only the sociocultural factors explored in this research, but also the importance of considering the effects of language contact between heritage languages and similar languages and dialects. / text

Facilitating a classroom culture of openness has been positively linked with student outcomes, including task value, motivation, and achievement. The proposed study investigates the impact manipulating classroom culture by disclosing student responses to cognitive and metacognitive prompts during lectures has on the above student outcomes. Using a series of two-way ANOVAs, students in five sections (control, prompting only, paper and pencil response, anonymous CRS responses and public disclosure of CRS responses) will be compared on each of these dependent variables at pre-test and at post-test to examine the effect of the public disclosure condition within a classroom. Participants in the public disclosure condition are expected to have the largest increase in task value, motivation to self-regulate, and to have the highest academic achievement scores. A natural outgrowth of the proposed study is the development of an intervention focused on increasing student task value and motivation within classrooms. Therefore, this report also includes an evaluation plan, outlining the essential program components, a logic model for this program, and the proposed method in which the reported outcomes will be measured. / text

This thesis is a qualitative case study of a 5th grade field trip program at the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Georgia. The value – educational, social, and otherwise – of direct experiences with artworks in the museum setting has been demonstrated in numerous studies (Adams & Sibille, 2005; Burchenal & Grohe, 2007; Burchenal & Lasser, 2007; Henry, 1992; Hubard, 2007), and the single-visit field trip program has been a staple of educational programming at many art museums across the United States. However, much of the recent literature in art education focuses on the benefits of multiple-visit field trip programming (Burchenal & Grohe, 2007; Burchenal & Lasser, 2007), in effect “abandoning” the single-visit program. Given that the single-visit field trip remains a standard in the field, this study sought to explore the ways museum educators can maximize the value of the one-shot field trip model in art museums. Through observations of a 5th grade class on their field trip to the Georgia Museum of Art, interviews with program stakeholders (including museum educators, museum director, the school art teacher, and program donor), and collecting the students’ perspective through written questionnaires, this study revealed insight into the one-visit field trip. An analysis of the various issues and perspectives involved with this type of programming substantiated the hypothesis that there is valuable information to be learned from looking closer at the single-visit program. The findings suggest that by situating itself authentically in its own community, the art museum can make single-visit field trip programs more relevant to students’ lives by employing culturally responsive teaching practices. / text

This study is significant because U.S. schools are continuously being transformed due to the increasing numbers of linguistically and culturally diverse students, in particular Latina/o youths. Therefore, this qualitative dissertation study explored and described ways three Latina Tejana Maestras utilized Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) during literacy learning as they integrated students’ knowledge about their social and cultural environment, including their native language repertoire, while developing and implementing instruction. This study used sociocultural and borderlands theoretical construct to explore and describe ways the Maestras enacted and sustained CRP during literacy events. The sociocultural perspective is a fitting lens because it takes into account how knowledge is constructed in and through social interaction. Borderlands is also a fitting lens because it takes into account the Tejana Maestras borderlands identity of straddling simultaneous worlds — two languages, two cultures. Sociocultural theory and Borderlands theoretical lenses were complemented by CRP, a teaching approach that not only fits the school culture to the students’ culture, but uses the students’ culture as the basis for students to understand themselves and guiding them to becoming academically successful. The two questions used to guide this dissertation were: What culturally responsive pedagogical knowledge and practices do Tejana Maestras enact in bilingual classrooms? Second: How do Tejana Maestras acquire knowledge about the culture, language, and background experience of their students when planning and implementing instruction? The research revealed three themes, a) the presence of Building a Bilingual Classroom Community (BBCC) that was continuously evolving, and seamlessly functioning, as a system was clearly evident in each of the three classrooms, b) the Tejana Maestras notion of agents of change that guided their pedagogical literacy practices, and c) the notion of centering Mexican American students’ values, beliefs, and norms into the pedagogy and curriculum responsive to emergent bilinguals was recognizable. Six findings developed from the data; a) Tejana Maestras foster cultural awareness, b) embrace Latina/o bilingualism, c) employ a menu of culturally responsive literacy practices, d) learn from their students e) are conscious of their identity, and f) teaching philosophy. Due to U.S. schools being transformed by the increasing numbers of linguistically and culturally diverse students, the study demonstrated that it is important to conduct research about Tejana Maestras to learn the ways they are effectively meeting the needs of bilingual students by using CRP to promote academic success. / text

This study focuses on oral communication in the classroom involving discussion and dialogue amongst pupils, but also between teacher and pupil. The overall aim is to study the choices regarding the group composition and working methods that might occur in four individual teachers’ lessons plans with the intention of increasing the pupils’ knowledge through oral communication. The main focus is to explore what the teachers think of the choices they make and how they believe these changes affect the pupils. It is also focused on how the teachers perceive their pupils’ learning is improved by oral communication and how they incorporate all pupils, especially the pupils who rarely participate in classroom activity. The methods used are qualitative studies using interviews and observations. The material consists of interview recordings and notes. The concept of dialogue is consistent in the study and focuses on the importance of dialogue amongst pupils to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. The sociocultural perspective of learning and development is used to analyze the empirical material. The results show that oral communication makes more pupils participate in the classroom activities, it especially improves the shy and quiet pupils. Oral communication also affects and develops learning and knowledge in other subjects. This study emphasizes the importance of having a good classroom climate where all students feel noticed, calm and safe, to make dialogue and discussions work in the classroom.

The purpose of this investigation was to support and foster parent participation among Mexican origin parents of special needs children. However, a limited amount of empirical research existed that considered Mexican origin parents' understanding of participation in general and special education settings.Parent participation was viewed as a dynamic and evolving process through which parent participants could construct knowledge and meaning. Novice (newcomer) parents worked with veteran (experienced) parents to learn about participation. Critical and reflective discussions were central to their learning and parents moved toward full participation as they developed confidence, skills, and awareness about themselves as agents of change.A Critically Compassionate Intellectualism (CCI) model, derived from Sociocultural Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT), was applied to analyze the ways parents demonstrated their understanding of participation through cooperation, caring, and critical consciousness. A Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach was implemented as a method through which parents' roles in the investigation and their definitions of participation were explored.Primary data sources included individual and focus group interviews, discussion/planning sessions, and a debriefing session. Secondary sources consisted of weekly journals, an open-ended survey, and audio memos. Most data sources were transcribed and coded using an "open-coding" procedure. Then primary sources were coded a second time for a more detailed analysis of parents' evolving views of participation.Novice parents reported that within a cooperative environment they could share their thoughts and feelings about their children. They acknowledged that their voices were heard and, therefore, felt validated and supported. Parents' critical consciousness was raised as they felt more confident in generating positive changes for their children. Both veteran and novice parents' roles changed over time. Veteran parents' leadership grew and novice parents became more active and vocal in the research process.This study presented alternative ways to understand parent participation. Being listened to and respected by teachers and school administrators were important reasons for parents' active participation. Feeling supported at IEP meetings and having open communication with teachers also were important factors contributing to parents' participation. Definitions of participation should continue to expand to allow a space for parents' diverse experiences.

Reducing racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare are ongoing concerns. A paucity of data on healthcare seeking behavior among older Black women has hampered efforts to make culturally responsive healthcare services available to this population. Little is known about how older Black women's expectations and perceptions of care affect their patterns of health behavior.This study explored sociocultural contexts of health behavior with fifty Black women, aged 40 and older, in Tucson, Arizona by examining what prompts these women to seek services, identifying key factors affecting their access to and utilization of healthcare, documenting their experiences in healthcare settings and how these interactions influence their healthcare-seeking behavior. If effective healthcare service access and utilization are to be encouraged among older Black women, an informed understanding of the role cultural difference plays is essential.This research has three purposes: to provide a forum for discussion of culturally relevant strategies and models for prevention of disease and promotion of wellness in Black communities; to provide perspectives on older Black women's health issues for policymakers and administrators in public health sciences; and to gain insight and document reasons for selected health behaviors among this population. Research funding from the NIH/ NIA has helped to establish this small multi-disciplinary data set on a specific race, gender and age sub-population group for future research and development of community resource partnerships; including public health education and effective healthcare service delivery with intervention / promotion efforts targeting older Black women.Findings: Older Black women's poorer health status reflects the cumulative effects of inadequate health care due to various discriminatory experiences and their mistrust of the health care system. Mistrust, expectations of racial bias, perceived cultural insensitivity, and lack of effective communication within healthcare settings were found to be barriers to their healthcare-seeking behavior. Neither healthcare providers nor older Black women can address these issues alone. Working towards more trusting relationships within healthcare settings is critical in beginning to address avoidable inequities in health status experienced by older Black women.This research is applicable to such disciplines as Sociocultural/Medical Anthropology, Health Education, Public Health, and Africana/Ethnic Studies.

The sociocultural model of eating disorders suggests that awareness of a thin physical ideal directly affects internalization of that ideal, which in turn, directly affects body dissatisfaction. The current study evaluated the general accuracy of the sociocultural model and examined the potential for ethnicity to protect against eating disorder symptomatology by moderating the relationships between awareness and internalization and between internalization and body dissatisfaction. Spanish (n = 100), Mexican American (n = 100), and Euro-American (n = 100) female participants completed various questionnaires measuring sociocultural attitudes towards appearance and body dissatisfaction. Analysis of covariance with tests of homogeneity of slope and path analysis using maximum likelihood with robust standard errors tested the two relationships by ethnic group. Results supported the sociocultural model: there was strong evidence for the mediational effect of internalization on the relationship between awareness and body dissatisfaction. Furthermore, ethnicity moderated the relationships such that both relationships were significantly stronger for Euro-American women than for Mexican American or Spanish women. Within the Mexican American group level of acculturation also moderated these relationships. Taken together, the results of this study highlight how ethnicity can protect against the development of eating disorder symptoms. Denouncing the thin ideal, minimizing appearance as an indicator of female value, and emphasizing personal traits other than appearance as determinants of worth are important in protecting against the development of body dissatisfaction and more severe eating pathology.