Although there is a current movement in regular education to develop skills in the teaching of art, art education has been largely ignored in special education. Discipline-based art education (DBAE) is a current model in art education that encourages continuous, sequential, content lessons in art. Art methologies, including a new emphasis on language skills, could be a powerful resource for special education teachers. A growing body of research on staff development suggests that procedures affecting teacher change include attending to teacher attitudes, using collaborative planning procedures, including follow-up coaching sessions, and delineating voluntary participation. In contrast, little research has been done to examine the change process during staff development concerning the relationships among practice, attitudes, and knowledge. The main focus of this study was to examine the process of change during staff development in art education with special education teachers. Seven teachers of special education were voluntary participants in a staff development program that addressed content and methodology in DBAE. The researcher served as the staff developer and in-classroom coach. Data concerning the teachers' practice, attitudes, and knowledge were collected by methods of video and audio tapes of classroom observations and coaching, prestudy and poststudy structured interviews, and attitude surveys. Data analyses were constructed addressing both individual teachers and the relationships between teachers in an effort to better understand the process of change during staff development. It was found that all of the participating teachers changed in a positive direction regarding the use of DBAE methods in their classrooms. These changes were evident on the attitude surveys, observation and coaching sessions, and when comparing prestudy and poststudy interviews. They involved the interaction of practice, attitudes, and knowledge. Those teachers who possessed a less sophisticated level of knowledge about art education prior to the study appeared to change at a greater rate than those with strong personal convictions. The findings suggest the importance of attending to attitudes, knowledge, and practice during staff development. The study provides a greater understanding of staff development in DBAE.

Preservice teachers' perceptions of their learning, reading, and teaching in an experientially designed course, Children's Literature in the Classroom, is the focus of this study. Qualitative methods included data sources such as initial student surveys, written early literacy memories, audiotaped and transcribed discussions of children's and adolescent literature, mid-term and final self-evaluations, audiotaped and transcribed exit interviews, and various written artifacts created throughout the semester. Several levels of data analysis were used to discover answers to the following questions: What do preservice teachers view as the purpose of this course for themselves personally and professionally? What role do they see literature playing in learning, reading, and teaching? What class experiences were most significant to students? What are preservice teachers' perceptions of themselves and children as learners, readers, and teachers? Each question was extended by also examining the new understandings that were constructed during the many transactions within the semester. The findings of the study emphasized the positive learning experiences within the constructivist framework of this course. Concerning the purpose of the course and children's literature, class members gained a knowledge base in children's literature and an understanding through experience of the purpose and implementation of literature in the classroom. The most significant course aspect was stated as literature discussion groups. Reasons given for this included the personal experiences shared, the various understandings of literature through diverse responses, and the meaning making about text and life that transpired. As learners, preservice teachers developed a greater understanding of the complexities of learning as well as professional knowledge about literature and its use. As readers, they discovered new insights into the reading process, and for many a renewed love of reading emerged. As teachers, they constructed new attitudes and beliefs about teaching in addition to resources and professional preparation gained from the course. Three case studies showed how class members who had very different perceptions of how they best learned were all supported in their construction of knowledge within the class.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

M.Ed. (Education) / Teacher education programmes are frequently criticised for their limited ability to successfully prepare student teachers for the reality of the classroom. This study was designed to inquire into the potential role of case-based teaching to enhance student teachers’ development as prospective teachers. The object of the study was a course offered in the pre-service teacher education programme of the Faculty of Education at the University of Johannesburg. I set out to explore the potential role of case based teaching to enhance student teachers’ development as prospective teachers. The literature review includes discussions of applicable literature which investigates the criticism against teacher education programmes, particularly the perceived theory-practice divide in the education of teachers. Possible reasons for the divide are debated followed by a discussion on what literature regards as core features of an effective teacher educator programme. The literature review concludes with an appraisal of the use of case-based teaching in teacher education, as an example of learning from practice. The design type of the enquiry was a generic qualitative study, investigating the use of case-based teaching in teacher education in a natural classroom setting to examine its potential role in enhancing student teachers’ development. Participants were two teacher educators and a sample from two large cohorts of first year student teachers who experienced case teaching. I used three main sources of data gathering: (a) interviews (individual and two sets of focus group interviews); (b) artefacts of the course (reflective essays written by first year student teachers on their views and experience of case teaching and mid-year exam scripts) and (c) audio-visual material (video footage available of the case teaching).

D.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This dissertation, drawing on Swain's (2000; 2005) notion of collaborative dialogue, aimed to explore whether learners participating in SCMC based tasks engage in collaborative dialogue and, if so, to investigate the extent and characteristics of this behavior. In order to provide insights into the task type that may promote collaborative dialogue most effectively, the study compared two task types that are claimed to be contrasting (Swain & Lapkin, 2001) with regard to the degree of attention to form they promote: jigsaw and dictogloss. The following research questions were addressed: (1) To what extent do learners attempt to solve linguistic problems by way of collaborative dialogue during SCMC based tasks? (2) What are the characteristics of the collaborative dialogue with regard to focus, outcome, verbalization, collaboration, and source? (3) Does task type (dictogloss and jigsaw) have an effect on the amount of collaborative dialogue? (4) Does task type (dictogloss and jigsaw) have an effect on the characteristics of collaborative dialogue? The study involved 54 Turkish speaking English-as-a- Foreign-Language (EFL) learners. Learners were enrolled in four intact classes at two Turkish universities in Istanbul. Two jigsaw-dictogloss pairs were designed and matched for content. Following a practice task session, randomly formed dyads of students from each class performed one jigsaw and one dictogloss by using the MSN Messenger instant messaging and CoWord collaborative editing software. Language-Related Episodes (LREs) were identified in learner-learner interaction and categorized based on five levels: focus, outcome, verbalization, collaboration and source. It was found that LREs did occur during task-based SCMC. However, the frequency of LRES seemed to be low in comparison F2F studies. Results also showed that the dictogloss task elicited a higher number of LREs than the jigsaw task. At descriptive level, tasks were different with respect to the characteristics of LREs. While the dictogloss was characterized by orthographic and correctly solved LREs, the jigsaw was characterized by unresolved LREs. The results were discussed in light of the arguments about the effects of limited information-processing capacity on task performance (Skehan, 1998). / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: October 19, 2007. / Synchronous Computer-mediated Communication, Computer-mediated Communication, Scmc, Negotiation of Meaning, Learner-learner Interaction, Output Hypothesis, Negative Feedback, Cmc, Focus on Form, Language-related Episodes, Second Language Acquisition, Task-based Instruction, Task Effects, Jigsaw, Dictoglosss / Includes bibliographical references. / Deborah J. Hasson, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michael Leeser, Professor Directing Dissertation; Alysia Roehrig-Bice, Outside Committee Member; Patrick Kennell, Committee Member.

Researchers in the field agree that there is too little research on the experience of immigrant children and their families in the ECE arena (Adair & Tobin, 2007; Brandon, 2002). Furthermore, despite the presence of Japanese immigrants in the U.S. for nearly 150 years, there is not a lot of research to suggest why they have not become fully integrated into society and there has been too little research conducted on the experiences of young Japanese immigrant children and their families in the field of Early Childhood Education (ECE). Using a multi-method case approach including interviews, surveys and observations, this study examined the extent to which varying degrees of individualism and collectivism influence Japanese immigrant mothers' decisions concerning early childhood education and out-of –home care. Moreover, the experiences of Japanese immigrant children in early education and the barriers related to language and cultures are also examined. The challenges Japanese immigrant mothers' face in making decisions about ECE in North Florida is additionally explored. Pattern coding was used to analyze the phenomenon in greater detail as the informants answered questions and shared stories on their most intimate experiences in early childhood education. This study included 11 mothers from Japan who recently immigrated to the U.S. The length of time the participants had lived in the U.S. varied from 3 months up to 108 months and the mean of participants living in the U.S. was 49 (34.7) months. The parents alluded to English proficiency as a barrier when making decisions about early childhood education and out of home care. Participants cited losing their Japanese culture, their expectations, a lack of awareness of programs offered, and American culture as barriers related to language and culture. This study examines those barriers referred to by the informants and concludes with recommendations for future practice when working with Japanese immigrant families. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2011. / Date of Defense: May 25, 2011. / Individualism, Collectivism, Immigrant Mothers, Early Childhood, Japanese Immigrants / Includes bibliographical references. / Ithel Jones, Professor Directing Dissertation; Robert A. Schwartz, University Representative; Vickie E. Lake, Committee Member; Diana Rice, Committee Member.

Delayed language development is often the primary concern for parents of children with autism. It is this delay that initially provokes parents to have children evaluated for this disorder. Delayed oral language affects an array of important life skills such as social communication and emergent literacy. This study has been designed to target expressive vocabulary, a fundamental aspect of language, using a storybook reading intervention based on dialogic reading. The differential effects of dialogic reading enhanced with attention cues compared to dialogic reading alone on expressive language behaviors were measured using an alternating treatment design. The results of this study indicate that the participants with autism spectrum characteristics benefited from dialogic reading with or without attention cues. All the children with autism were able to increase their vocabulary use by the completion of the intervention regardless of the treatment condition. Additionally, positive gains were noticed on the standardized assessments related to vocabulary acquisition. The teachers of the children with autism reported the interventions resulted in favorable changes in their students' vocabulary use during storybook reading sessions and in spontaneous language use within the classroom. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2011. / Date of Defense: February 22, 2011. / Adult Child Book Reading, Naturalistic Intervention, Pictorial Cue, Spontaneous Verbalization, Early Literacy Skills, Joint Book Reading / Includes bibliographical references. / Bruce M. Menchetti, Professor Directing Dissertation; Chris Schatschneider, University Representative; Stephanie Dent Al Otaiba, Committee Member; Beth Phillips, Committee Member.

This study examined willingness to communicate (WTC) of language learners who were studying English as a foreign language in a Chinese college setting by adapting variables from four theoretical sources: McCroskey and Richmond's (1987) WTC construct, Gardner's (2001a) Socio-Educational model, MacIntyre et al.'s (1998) WTC model, and Wen and Clément's (2003) conceptualization of WTC in a Chinese setting. Three objectives guided this study: 1) to examine the relationships among willingness to communicate, communication apprehension, and self-perceived communication competence in Chinese and English language contexts respectively; 2) to examine the relationships between integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, motivation, and instrumental orientation with WTC in English; 3) to test the proposed relationships among communication variables (i.e., communication apprehension and self-perceived communication competence), affective variables (i.e., integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, motivation, and instrumental orientation), teacher immediacy, and WTC in English. Two hundred and thirty-five (235) sophomores and juniors majoring in English at a public university in China participated in this study. A quantitative research method using self-report questionnaires was employed to collect data that addressed ten different aspects or variables concerning the participants' communication and affective orientations, as well as the perceived teacher immediacy behaviors. Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple regression, and a path model were utilized as statistical analysis methods in line with each research question. The results of the study showed that all of the communication variables were significantly correlated with each other at the .01 level in both Chinese and English communication settings. Moreover, the correlations between Chinese and English for communication apprehension, self-perceived communication competence, and willingness to communicate were all positive and statistically significant, indicating their trait-like predisposition which remained constant across languages used in communication settings. All of the four affective variables (i.e., integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, motivation, and instrumental orientation) and the variable of willingness to communicate in English were significantly correlated with each other at the .05 level. However, only attitudes toward the learning situation and motivation contributed significant predicative power to WTC in English. Communication apprehension and self-perceived communication competence were the only two direct effects on WTC in English. Communication apprehension also had indirect effect on WTC in English through its negative effect on self-perceived communication competence. Teacher immediacy had direct positive effect on communication apprehension and negative effect on self-perceived communication competence. WTC in English was indirectly dependent on teacher immediacy through the mediation of communication apprehension and self-perceived communication competence. Motivation had direct effect on communication apprehension and self-perceived communication competence. The hypothesized predictive relationships from attitudes toward learning situation, integrativeness, and instrumental orientation to motivation were supported. Motivation could indirectly predict WTC in English through the mediation of communication apprehension and self-perceived communication competence. The importance of this study lies in its theoretical contributions to the WTC research and the pedagogical implications for second language teaching and learning. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2009. / Date of Defense: December 12, 2008. / Chinese, Self-Perceived Communication Competence Foreign Language Learner, Willingness to Communicate, Communication Apprehension / Includes bibliographical references. / Susan Nelson Wood, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gretchen Sunderman, Outside Committee Member; Alysia D. Roehrig, Committee Member; John Keller, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study is to seek a greater understanding of the political dynamics influencing the involvement of Florida institutions of higher education in alternative teacher certification policies and programs. Adapting J. Victor Baldridge's Interest Articulation Model, the analysis focuses on three stages of organization-level policy formation: social context, interest articulation, and legislative transformation. The political analysis centers on deans (authorities) and teacher education faculty (partisans) as they maneuver within an institutional context that is influenced by a number of external forces such as state policy, market forces, and competing ideas about the future of teacher education and certification. Differences among teacher education institutions and alternative certification programs are considered in the analysis. Data are drawn from 26 semi-structured interviews with administrators and faculty members from the colleges of education at Florida's state universities and a web-based survey of 64 higher education administrators across the state. The study found that state policy has catalyzed and legitimized new alternative pathways and has influenced state universities and community colleges to engage in alternative preparation. Twenty-two (68%) of the 32 survey respondents report that their institutions have been involved in the development or implementation of AC programs, and 12 IHE-operated programs were identified in the survey. Administrators perceive that their faculty are supportive of both the district-based and state AC programs. Survey data suggest that community college administrators are more supportive of AC than their counterparts in the state universities and independent colleges and universities. Deans and faculty at state universities have put up little resistance, realizing that the process will move forward with or without them. Many deans feel obligated to engage so they can be seen as team players in the state. In addition, deans are using their support of a state alternative certification initiative as quid pro quo for more flexibility in the state's regulatory framework for approved teacher education programs. For the most part, however, programs at the state universities are campus-based, center on graduate coursework, and are modified variations of "traditional" programs, which is far from the on-the-job, competency-based programming envisioned by the state. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2005. / Date of Defense: September 12, 2005. / Colleges of Education, Teacher Education, Alternative Teacher Certification, Politics of Education / Includes bibliographical references. / Lora Cohen-Vogel, Professor Directing Dissertation; Dave Foulk, Outside Committee Member; Carolyn Herrington, Committee Member; Sande Milton, Committee Member.