The purpose of this study was to describe and interpret young adult ESL (English as a Second Language) students‘ participation in discussions of literature in a high-intermediate level reading classroom at a university-affiliated ELP (English Learning Program) program. Additionally, this study explored the nature and characteristics of talk generated by ESL students within the context of literature discussions. Naturalistic methods of data collection were employed in keeping with the constructivist paradigm, including classroom observations, audio and video recordings, transcripts of audio and video recordings, field notes, interviews with the teacher and students, teacher resources, and student artifacts. This naturalistic inquiry drew from qualitative traditions in its design, and the study was further guided by grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and discourse analysis. The study findings indicated that literature discussions were structured by six stages: (1) reading at home, (2) setting up and review, (3) students redefining the tasks, vii (4) students doing the tasks, (5) sharing with the class, and (6) taking in-class quizzes. Analysis revealed that these sequenced stages that allowed for a shifting of roles and positions between the teacher and students and among students enabled students to have regular and extended opportunities for talk and interaction. The findings of the study demonstrated that the student-to-student exchanges featured more discursive talk as the students were encouraged to construct meanings collaboratively and to engage in interactive discourse with one another. The implications of these findings in terms of teaching as mediation and the nature of talk in ESL classrooms are discussed. / text

This phenomenological study of a First Nations to First Nations reciprocal student exchange elicited and explored the meanings of a reciprocal intercommunity exchange for grade 7 and 8 students in two First Nations schools. Representative student research participants from one of the schools shared their pictures, stories and memories of their experiences through photo-story (Truchon, 2007; Wang & Burris, 1997) and in a sharing circle (Lavallee, 2007). The students‟ journeys were not only physical and geographical, but also emotional and cultural. I also journeyed to an acceptance of my outsider/insider status growing up in a First Nations community. As a non-Aboriginal researcher, I negotiated a space between the demands of the academic institution and the First Nations community; and chose research methods that were congruent with Indigenous Research Methodology (Wilson, 2008; Kovach, 2009; Smith, 1999). The four themes that emerged from the data: community and relationships; culture and ceremony; connections with place, and confidence building are congruent with AFN‟s vision of “reciprocal inter-community exchanges promoting sharing of culture” (AFN, 2007) and with Cajete‟s (1999) vision of “igniting the sparkle.” These students said that: “learning about another culture made me want to learn more about my own.” Listening to these students share what was gained through this exchange and their dreams for the future revealed their hope and persistence. The example of a practice such as a reciprocal exchange which encouraged and iii engaged these youth could stimulate other First Nations communities to seek out similar educational practices that would benefit their youth. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-01-25 16:18:38.852

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-05-16T14:47:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 leonardofranciscodeazevedo.pdf: 1174267 bytes, checksum: 771c50e38ee563df2e28a2d6cf0e517b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-06-28T11:34:23Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 leonardofranciscodeazevedo.pdf: 1174267 bytes, checksum: 771c50e38ee563df2e28a2d6cf0e517b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-28T11:34:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 leonardofranciscodeazevedo.pdf: 1174267 bytes, checksum: 771c50e38ee563df2e28a2d6cf0e517b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-28 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / As migrações, no mundo contemporâneo, têm se intensificado e se complexificado significativamente. Pessoas, objetos e ideias circulam por diferentes lugares e de distintas maneiras, redimensionando noções de espaço e tempo, de pertencimento e de configurações identitárias. A presente pesquisa, frente a esse contexto, objetivou investigar a migração estudantil através dos intercâmbios acadêmicos. Esse tipo de migração, crescente nos últimos anos, possui singularidades que afetam sobremaneira as trajetórias e percepções de quem os pratica. A partir da experiência de alunos de graduação da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF), que realizaram intercâmbio estudantil nos anos de 2013 e 2014, bem como da própria experiência do pesquisador, que realizou intercâmbio em sua graduação no ano de 2011, buscou-se compreender e caracterizar esse fenômeno. Através de entrevistas e observação participante, percebeu-se que este tipo de migração possui uma correlação direta com o corte geracional. A ideia de “ser jovem” pressupõe estar disponível para viver novas experiências e incorporar ideais cosmopolitas. Entretanto, esses estudantes, ao irem para um país estrangeiro, encontram dificuldades de integração com a população “nativa”, restringindo suas interações ao universo de seus pares, ou seja, outros intercambistas. Apesar dessa condição de “estrangeiro”, o intercâmbio atua como elemento diferenciador e distintivo em relação às redes desses estudantes no Brasil. Além disso, o intercâmbio contribui para a construção de projetos de vida e para a ampliação do “campo de possibilidades” desses sujeitos, alargando significativamente suas percepções e perspectivas sobre suas próprias vidas e sobre o mundo. O “estar fora”, a experiência do estranhamento, promovem a ressignificação de uma identidade brasileira, utilizada como estratégia de diferenciação em relação aos estrangeiros. Por fim, cabe destacar esse fenômeno como parte de projetos governamentais de desenvolvimento, se inserindo no cenário global da disputa geopolítica pelo conhecimento científico. / Migration, in the contemporary world, has intensified and got significantly more complex. People, objects and ideas circulate among different places and different ways, resizing notions of space and time and configurations of belonging and identity. This research, in this context, aimed at investigating the student’s migration through academic exchanges. This type of migration, growing in recent years, has singularities that greatly affect the trajectories and perceptions of those who practice them. Based on the experience of the graduate students from the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF), which had exchanged students in the years 2013 and 2014, as well as the experience of the researcher, who was himself an exchange student on his undergraduation in 2011, there came an attempt to understand and describe this phenomenon. Through interviews and participant observation, it was noticed that this type of migration has a direct correlation to the generational cut. The idea of "being young" presupposes being available for new experiences and incorporating cosmopolitan ideal. However, these students who go to a foreign country face many integration difficulties to hang on with the locals, restricting their interactions to the universe of their peers, or, in other words, with other exchange students. Despite of this "foreign" condition, the exchange student acts as a differentiating and distinctive element for the network of these students in Brazil. In addition, the exchange student contributes to the construction of life projects and the expansion of the "field of possibilities" of these subjects, extending significantly their perceptions and perspectives on their own lives and on the world. The living out and the experience of the strangeness promote the redefinition of a Brazilian identity, used as a differentiation strategy in relation to foreigners. Finally, we highlight this phenomenon as part of government development projects, by inserting in the global arena of geopolitical dispute for scientific knowledge.