The purpose of the study was to understand teachers’ knowledge and experiences associated with teachers’ sense-making of their literacy coaching experiences. The researcher used qualitative research methods in the form of interview data and classroom observations to examine teachers’ sense-making experiences informed through sociocultural theories. The researcher collected data from 5 teacher participants, mostly African Americans, who taught students who were also predominantly African American. Teachers’ years of teaching experience ranged from 9 years to 40 years. The study found that literacy coaching may improve teachers’ abilities to scaffold students’ cognitive reasoning. The study suggested that more, in-depth learning of subject-matter content, an understanding of students’ instructional tasks, and an increase of duration in literacy coaching may be required before teachers can implement literacy instruction above literal comprehension. In contrast, the findingssuggested that additional efforts in literacy coaching may be required to improve teachers’ scaffolding of students’ background knowledge.The findings revealed that few teachers may understand the influences of students’ cultural backgrounds upon students’ learning. The present study implied that additional and closer examination of how teachers scaffold cultural background knowledge during reading instruction may provide insight related to the role of knowledge about teachers’ metacognition while engaged in literacy coaching. Moreover, the results of the present study suggested that literacy coaching may promote teacher and student learning over extended periods of time. The study found that 4thgrade students showed small achievement gains among individual students moving from 3rd grade to 4thgrade during the year of the intervention. Finding of small gains occurring during the year that the intervention was provided may suggest an expectant growth projection over time. Nonetheless, the present study did not find that literacy coaching conclusively impacted gains in literacy achievement.

Thesis (M.(Augmentative and Alternative Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:24:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5782.pdf: 13660184 bytes, checksum: 9fdbdb4d214482d1c29427bf52b24c65 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-28 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The aim of this work is to analyze participants reported cognition, their practice and the teaching context influence in regard to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) grammar teaching. According to Borg (2006), language teaching can be seen as a process that is defined by dynamic interactions among cognition, context and experience. The interest in investigating the cognition of novice teachers in relation to grammar teaching was based on the fact that the participants were educated on the studies of Batstone (1994) and Larsen- Freeman (2003). Both authors defend the view of grammar centered in the possibility of developing it as a skill (grammar as a skill / grammaring). Aiming at presenting and discussing possible connections among theoretical education, reported cognition, pedagogical practice and teaching context influences, we adopted the following data collection instruments and procedures: semi structured interviews, questionnaire, class observation, class recordings and stimulated recall interviews. The participants of this study are EFL teachers who had recently graduated from the same institution and taught, when data were collected, in two different teaching contexts. Based on the data analysis, it was possible to classify participants into three groups, which show different results in regard to grammar teaching. These findings show teaching contexts have influenced teachers practice, mainly regarding the possibility of integrating form and communication, considering the development of grammar as skill. In addition, it was possible to provide some insight into the area of teacher education reflecting about the relationship between theory and practice, aiming at developing efficient and meaningful EFL teaching in different educational contexts. / O objetivo deste estudo é analisar a cognição relatada dos participantes, sua prática docente e a influência do contexto de atuação em relação ao ensino-aprendizagem de gramática da língua inglesa (LI). De acordo com Borg (2006), o ensino de línguas pode ser visto como um processo que é definido por interações dinâmicas entre cognição, contexto e experiência. Interessou-nos investigar a cognição relatada do professor recém-formado com relação ao ensino de gramática, tendo em vista que a formação teórica desses participantes foi pautadd nos estudos de Batstone (1994) e Larsen-Freeman (2003), defensores da visão de gramática fundamentada na possibilidade de desenvolvê-la como habilidade (grammar as a skill /grammaring). Com o intuito de apresentar e discutir possíveis relações entre formação teórica, cognição relatada, prática docente e influências do contexto de atuação profissional, utilizamos os seguintes instrumentos e procedimentos de coleta de dados: entrevistas semi-estruturadas, questionário, observação e gravação de aulas e sessões de visionamento. Os participantes deste estudo são professores recém graduados, todos pela mesma instituição, atuavam, na época da coleta, em dois contextos distintos. Com base na análise dos dados, foi possível classificar os participantes do estudo em três grupos, sendo que cada um apresenta atuação distinta com relação ao ensino de gramática. Por meio dos resultados, foi possível tecer considerações sobre a influência dos contextos de atuação na prática do professor,sobretudo no que tange à possibilidade de integrar forma e comunicação, buscando o desenvolvimento da gramática como habilidade. Além disso, foi possível apontar encaminhamentos para a área de formação de professores, refletindo acerca da relação teoria e prática, visando ao ensino eficaz e significativo da LI em diversos contextos educacionais.

Ce travail se situe à la croisée de la didactique des langues étrangères [L2], des sciences de l'éducation et de la psychologie sociale. L'hypothèse de départ porte sur la possibilité que des enseignants de L2 montrent, face aux apprenants et au cours d'une rencontre en classe de L2, des comportements allant au-delà de leurs fonctions institutionnelles d'organiser, faciliter et participer à la communication. Il est question caractériser la manière dont des enseignants de L2 se représentent leur métier. Nous travail adhérons ainsi au courant des études sur la cognition des enseignants qui explorent leurs croyances hétéroclites. Nous avons d'abord observé des rencontres en classe de L2 en présentiel que nous avons ensuite analysées à la manière de l'analyse conversationnelle. Le recours à l'analyse conversationnelle nous a permis de déterminer la manière dont les participants co-construisent la rencontre en classe de L2. Certaines des pratiques repérées chez l'enseignant, telles que la désaffiliation, la légitimation du rire, ont été caractérisées comme des actions motivées par ses croyances. Enfin, le recours à des entretiens d'auto-confrontation a permis de confronter les enseignants avec leur propre pratique afin qu'ils la commentent selon leur logique et leur ressenti. Ce dispositif a rendu possible un dialogue entre le chercheur et les enseignants grâce auquel leur savoir-être enseignant a été caractérisée finement. / This work is at the crossroads of applied linguistics – namely foreign language [L2] teaching – education studies and social psychology. Its ultimate goal is to characterize the way in which L2 teachers represent their profession. This work draws on teachers' cognition studies in order to explore the heterogeneous beliefs of teachers. It also draws on conversation analysis [CA]: the classroom observation conducted in four fields has produced recordings that have become L2 classroom transcripts. The use of CA has helped to determine the participants' attitude as they coconstruct the situation in which they participate – namely a L2 classroom, which constitutes, in principle, an institutional setting. As regards the L2 teachers, the identification of certain practices – their disaffiliation, their choice of subject, their legitimation of laughter – indicates the possibility that they have made certain decisions according to the manner in which they co-manage the classroom situation, but also in relation to their own beliefs. Finally, we use recall-interviews, by means of which the teachers are confronted the teachers with their own practice; this may conduce to their characterising their own actions according to a certain pedagogical logic, but also according to their feelings. By means of integrating these three sources of information a dialogue between the teachers and the researcher has become possible; this dialogue has allowed for a fine description of the teachers' teaching know-how.

Assessment of writing skills is a part of teachers’ everyday life. According to previous studies on a similar subject, teachers’ education in assessing writing is limited. The lack of education for teachers may lead to negative consequences for the whole educational system. For this reason, the purpose of this study focused on the analysis of English upper-secondary school teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices in assessing writing in Sweden.  The method for this study was adapted from Crusan et al. (2016) research. An Internet survey was used in order to receive information about teachers’ cognition. Firstly, the survey was published in different Facebook groups, and secondly, it was sent to upper-secondary teachers of English in different counties in Sweden via email. In total, 52 English teachers from upper-secondary schools participated in this study.  The results showed that teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices are co-dependent. Teachers need to be aware of their cognition regarding knowledge, beliefs, and practices. In-service teachers need to receive more training as a form of professional development, while institutions for pre-service teachers need to re-evaluate their educational plans. More research about teachers’ cognition and assessment of writing is needed in Sweden.