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The thesis explores the place of culture in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). The study originally set out to investigate the ways in which teachers understand culture and deal with it in their teaching of English. A survey of teachers found that while the teachers had sophisticated understandings about culture and its relationship with language at a general level, they did not have clear understandings about how cultural teaching can be enacted in the classroom. This conundrum was also evident in the literature on teaching culture in TESOL. An extensive survey of the literature found that while there are a number of different perspectives on how culture can be understood and dealt with in TESOL, none of these provide a comprehensive basis for the understandings teachers need for the practicalities of teaching. The focus of the study shifted from an investigation of professional development to the articulation of a conceptual framework to inform teachers in the way they can manage the teaching of culture. The framework draws on some significant insights of one of the perspectives in the literature, Intercultural Language Teaching, as well as some insights from other perspectives. The framework identifies dimensions in which teachers need to understand how culture can be manifest and managed in TESOL. For each dimension a number of factors on which decisions need to be made are identified. The framework also identifies a number of principles to guide teachers in their decision-making about the teaching culture. The potential of the framework to inform the teaching of English to adult immigrants in Australia, as well as students studying English in a university in Vietnam is explored. The capacity of the framework to inform TESOL teacher education, research and theory building is also evaluated.

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The purpose of this study is to explore experiences of professional growth for mid-career community college faculty. The research question that guided the study is: How do community college faculty members experience professional growth at mid- career? The research design included an interpretive social science methodology and phenomenological method. Nine mid-career community college faculty, identified as being engaged and active in their professional role, participated through in-depth interviews. Profiles of the participants in their own words were presented to reflect on their early career experiences, and themes were presented as they emerged from the data as participants talked about their experiences of professional growth. Themes emerged in the areas of: (1) experiences of professional growth; (2) how faculty made meaning of these experiences; and (3) how faculty experienced support for their growth. Faculty interviewed for this study were active in campus leadership and governance and in pursuing professional development opportunities. They demonstrated a high degree of engagement in student learning and improving instruction. They were thoughtful about their experiences, reflecting on diversity as one of the strengths of their institution and engaging in a self-reflective post-tenure process. They also experienced a high level of support from administrators and colleagues. By voicing the professional growth experiences of highly engaged faculty at an important career stage, this study offers implications for practice for faculty, administrators, and policy makers concerned with faculty, instructional, and organizational development. / Graduation date: 2013

This study described how and why a Korean elementary teacher taught mathematics as he did. Specifically, the study sought to describe his beliefs about the teaching and learning of mathematics and relate them to patterns of classroom interaction and norms. An ethnographic inquiry guided the study of one third grade 10-year veteran teacher over three months in Korea. Through participant observation, the researcher observed Teacher Lee's teaching paying special attention to the mathematics lessons for one class of 45 students daily Monday through Saturday. Formal and informal interviews were used to collect data on the teacher and 17 of his students as well as other teachers (such as four teachers in the third grade), two principals, two mothers, and three beginning teachers. In addition to participant observation and interviews, a variety of documents were also collected, including newspapers, articles from journals, test items used in the teacher's classroom, daily worksheets, curriculum guide book, mathematics textbook, the school's newspaper. All videotapes and audiotapes were transcribed for inductive analysis. The analysis generated six major themes of the teacher's beliefs about the teaching and learning of mathematics and how those beliefs impacted the interactions and norms: (a) behave orderly, think freely; (b) teaching mathematics with understanding; (c) manipulative activities and games; (d) discourse-oriented teaching practices; (e) mathematical tasks; and (f) professional development. The teacher's beliefs about the teaching and learning of mathematics were closely related to the interaction patterns and classroom norms. This close relationship implies that identifying interaction patterns and classroom norms may shed light on understanding teachers' beliefs and teaching practices. The teacher's study group activity was a major professional development factor in promoting the consistent relationship. Implications and recommendations included (a) the need for more study of classroom norms and interactions as practical knowledge of teaching mathematics, (b) the need for investigating the effect of a study group to support teacher change, (c) the importance of the relationship between pedagogical content knowledge and teachers' beliefs, and (d) the need for more study of classroom management for teaching mathematics using understanding and discourse as an instructional strategy. / Graduation date: 2000

Two theoretical models were examined based on the contributions of preservice teachers' personal teaching efficacy, ethnic causal attributions, past teaching, and international interaction experiences to their behaviors toward international children in multicultural small group activity sessions. Path analytic results revealed that for both models, these variables together did not significantly predict the positive or negative behavior of preservice teachers. T-tests, applied to positive and negative behaviors indicated that these behaviors varied significantly based on the child's gender and classroom activity type. Aspects of gender and activity type were included in an additional exploratory analysis of 16 path models. Only six were significant, although even these did not explain a large percentage of the variance associated with preservice teachers' behaviors. Personal teaching efficacy had a significant direct positive impact on the frequency and quality of positive behaviors displayed by preservice teachers toward international girls during unstructured table activities. However, the ethnic attribution variable of locus of causality had a significant direct positive impact on the frequency and quality of positive behaviors displayed by preservice teachers toward international boys during structured storytime activities. In addition, teacher preparation level and past international interaction experience had a significant direct negative impact on the frequency and quality of negative behaviors, respectively displayed by preservice teachers toward international boys during unstructured table activities. Finally, among these significant path models (a) teacher preparation level and past international interaction experiences made significant direct positive impacts on the causal attribution variables of locus of causality and stability; (b) the causal attribution variable of stability had a significant direct negative impact on controllability, and (c) the significant path coefficients between personal teaching efficacy and the causal attribution variable of stability were positive, while those associated with controllability were negative. In a secondary analysis, differences between preservice teachers' behaviors toward international and U.S. children as a result of children' s ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status, and involvement in different types of small group activities were examined, applying a multivariate analysis of variance. Positive behaviors displayed by preservice teachers were significantly lower for international than for U.S. children, while the converse was true for negative behaviors. In addition, both positive and negative behaviors displayed toward girls were significantly lower than for boys. Preservice teachers also displayed significantly more negative behaviors toward children during structured storytime than unstructured table activities. Overall, however, preservice teachers exhibited more positive than negative behaviors toward both international and U.S. children. / Graduation date: 1993

A review of the literature revealed that there are many variables that influence teachers' instructional practices. These influential variables fall into three categories: those related to the teacher, which are referred to in this study as teacher role characteristics; those related to the inservice education activities of teachers, referred to as staff development variables; and those related to the teachers' individual teaching situations, referred to as school climate variables. It was hypothesized that there may be variables that are related to the use of manipulatives for mathematics instruction by primary grade teachers. Nineteen independent variables in the three categories were studied. In order to investigate the hypotheses, a population of teachers was located in eight school districts outside of but within a sixty-mile radius of Corvallis, Oregon, and a sample was drawn from those teachers having some specialized training in the use of manipulatives beyond their initial teacher certification college coursework. One hundred eighty teachers were mailed a survey instrument, designed and field-tested by the researcher, whose purpose was to determine amount of manipulatives use. Following the completion of this survey, there were 145 participating teachers who were then sent a questionnaire, designed and field-tested by the researcher, which Pearson correlations were calculated for the variables based on continuous data and one-way analysis of variance was computed for the variables based on categorical data. Multiple regression analysis was then performed on the three independent variables that were statistically significant at the .05 level. A teacher's attitude toward the usefulness of manipulatives training, his/her current teaching beliefs (child-centeredness), and perceived attitude of students' parents were all highly correlated with manipulatives use. In the final regression model, each of these three variables made a unique contribution for explaining the variance in teachers' use of manipulatives. Other variables that may also have some relationship to the use of manipulatives included: quality of manipulatives training, follow-up from initial manipulatives training, and perceived response from students. / Graduation date: 1991

This study measured knowledge and attitudes about genital herpes and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in a sample of future teachers from the College of Education at Oregon State University. The objectives of the study were 1) to determine if students possess accurate knowledge about the two diseases; 2) to measure attitudes toward people with the two diseases; 3) to assess the relationship, if any, between knowledge and attitudes; 4) to compare knowledge and attitudes about genital herpes with knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS; and 5) to compare knowledge and attitudes about genital herpes in 1990 to data from a similar study conducted in 1984. A convenience sample of 150 students was obtained from undergraduate classes in the College of Education during Spring Term 1990. Subjects completed self-administered questionnaires about either genital herpes or HIV/AIDS during class time. Data were gathered using four instruments: A knowledge test, two attitude measures, and a demographic data questionnaire. Statistical tests used for data analysis were chi square, Pearson's correlation coefficient, Student's t-test, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and repeated measures ANOVA. The significance level was .05. Knowledge scores on the HIV/AIDS test were quite high (mean score 88% correct), while the mean genital herpes knowledge score was relatively low (62% correct). Attitudes toward people with both genital herpes and HIV/AIDS were relatively accepting, but subjects were significantly more accepting toward people with genital herpes. The least accepting responses toward people with either disease occurred in regard to potentially sexual situations (e.g. dating, marriage). There was no gender difference in attitudes toward people with either disease. Attitudes were more positive in response to a vignette of a college student followed by a questionnaire, compared to responses made to a questionnaire only. Correlations were found between more knowledge and more accepting attitudes about both diseases. Finally, genital herpes knowledge scores were higher (mean score 62% correct) than scores from a similar study of genital herpes conducted in 1984 (mean score 57% correct). Attitudes toward people with genital herpes were more accepting in the 1990 sample than were attitudes in the 1984 sample. All findings reported here are statistically significant. Recommendations for future research and education among future teachers concerning sexually transmitted diseases (STD's) include 1) development of methods to transmit accurate information about STD's by personalizing these diseases and relating them to college students' experiences; 2) a research focus upon attitudes and perceptions about STD's among future teachers, including the issue of homophobia, and how these relate to behavior; and 3) thorough teacher preparation about STD's, focusing on accurate knowledge and impartial attitudes that allow this topic to be addressed effectively in the classroom. Future research among the general college student population should address 1) the relationship between knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and behavior concerning STD's; 2) potential differences in responses made to a vignette followed by a questionnaire, compared to a questionnaire only; 3) students' source(s) of information about STD's, and level of trust in "scientific authority"; 4) possible interactions between religious influence and attitudes about STD's; 5) the existence of a stereotype of HIV/AIDS as a gay, male disease, and how this might affect attitudes and perceptions; 6) differences between males and females in terms of attitudes, especially with regard to homophobia; 7) the effectiveness of personalizing STD education to increase knowledge about and perceived susceptibility to STD's; 8) the interaction between societal values and personal values, and their effect on attitudes about STD's and sexual behavior. / Graduation date: 1991

A majority of conducted studies connected to democratic socialization and the party-political education has primary affected students in higher education. In this study I intend to find out how primary school teachers handle controversial issues in social science connected to the political parties.  The Swedish Democrats are by many perceived as a controversial party and while the school’s mission is to educate students to think independently another mission implies that certain views are not to be uttered if they stand contrary to the basic democratic values. The aim of this study is to obtain knowledge in and about the teachers view on the dilemma between the more nurturing assignment versus the knowledge assignment and in connection to this how they approach the Swedish Democrats in the classroom. For further immersion the research treats the following questions:   How do teachers view their own role as intermediaries in democratic education?   How to teachers portray the Swedish democrats in education? The survey was conducted by using qualitative interviews. Four primary school teachers who teach social science participated. The results showed that the Swedish Democrats was perceived as a controversial subject in the school as teachers sometimes felt difficulties to teach about this subject. The study also showed that teachers use different methods in the classroom when it comes to organizing the teaching of democracy, when it comes to both content and choice of teaching methods, which ultimately could affect how teachers directly or indirectly portray the Swedish Democrats.

This study investigates how preservice teachers make sense of student-centered instruction with existing traditional beliefs about teaching. Teacher educators assume that university instruction translates directly into practice, yet, research is clear that beginning teachers revert to traditional teaching practice. For elementary teachers, one science methods course is assumed to be sufficient instruction in contemporary methods to successfully guide practice in their beginning years. Two main research questions are addressed: 1) Do preservice teacher belief structures change during the implementation of a Japanese Lesson Study cycle? 2) To what extent are preservice teachers teaching behaviors consistent with their belief structures? [...] To answer these questions, a case study methodology consisting of three preservice teachers, selected from a collective case study of 25 preservice teachers, was performed. The time periods of data collection were set with Lesson Study episodes. The time periods included pre-lesson study, during lesson study episodes, and post lesson study, with a conceptual framework synthesized from beliefs literature, Rokeach (1968), Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), and operationalized within the context of a Science Methods course using Richardson et al (1991) and Pajares (1992) as a guide. Findings indicate that even if preservice teachers have similar experiences with elementary science instruction, and have developed a traditional frame of reference (Kennedy, 1999) that guides their learning about teaching, each understands information idiosyncratically. When viewed in terms of Green's (1971) metaphor of belief structures, preservice teachers have widely differing frames of reference; thus, an individual's sensemaking about inquiry lessons within lesson study groups and the meaning conveyed within conversations are completely different. Ultimately, the participants in this study can be described, metaphorically, as having a Crisis of Belief (Green, 1971), an approach of Quiet Introspection, and a Crisis of Practice. For teacher educators, understanding preservice teacher understanding, and using that understanding in constructing lessons that facilitate evaluation of existing beliefs requires different lenses. The three lenses used are, Epistemological (Hewson [and] Hewson, 1984; Posner, Strike, Hewson, [and] Gertzog, 1982), Social/Affect (Pintrich, Marx, [and] Boyle, 1993; Tyson, Venville, Harrison, [and] Treagust, 1997), and an Expectational lens (Chi, Slotta, [and] de Leeuw, 1994). The selection of lenses is dependent upon the idiosyncratic nature of each preservice teacher's belief structure. / text