This ethnographic study examines how students learn English through classroom experiences that challenge their current cultural practices. In particular, I examine how learning language through activities affects students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in a Korean university. It is based on the assumption, that learners have knowledge and use what they know to learn when presented with conflicting cultural models of learning. Because of globalization of English instruction, traditional Confucian values now co-exist in many Asian university EFL classrooms. My theoretical framework to explore these issues in Korea includes an examination of English language education policies through effect of globalization in Korean education, Confucianism and Vygotskian theories on language learners. In this ethnographic study, I have a dual role as the classroom teacher and a participant observer. I selected four focal participants for my research. My data include field notes, audio-tapes and notes from interviews, audio tapes from group activities, and notes from triangulations, verifications and peer reviews. Conceptual tools for data analysis are formulated using sociocultural theory together with activity theory (Engestrom, 1996). This perspective allowed me to provide a macro level analysis. In addition, I used Fairclough's Critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2001) for microanalysis of classroom in teaching and interview data. My findings from the macro level show how suggest that group interactions within an “English only policy” classroom re-created power structures derived from Confucian ideologies even though students' level of communicative abilities differed and institutional policies constrained them. Each student struggled in creative ways to respond to ideological conflicts presented to them. I document a shift in their learning ideologies, a shift in their levels of confidence and their identities after reflecting on their past learning experiences in two contrasting Freshman EFL classes. I also learned that as an international scholar educated in the US, I in many ways have become an agent of globalized English practices. Therefore I must also actually review my own biases and reflect on my actions.

In Indonesia, the existence of a national curriculum tends to impose standardization on all levels of formal education, including higher education. The standards anchored in the curriculum are linked to academic needs of children and adults. Private universities in this developing country seem to serve a more diverse student population than their government counterparts, however, they seem to have less flexibility in developing curricula. The present study sets directions for private universities to improve their English language curricula. Students' perceptions about their experience in English language programs serve as guidelines for curriculum improvement. The English language programs in three private universities in Jakarta, Indonesia are selected as the research sites. Three major research questions guided the study: What do the students report as reasons for wanting to learn English? What are strengths and weaknesses of the English language curricula as perceived by the students in three selected institutions of higher education in Jakarta? What directions for improving their English language curriculum do the students recommend? Fifty-eight enrolled students and fourteen recent graduates from three institutions of higher education participated in this study. Data were mainly obtained through open-ended survey questionnaires. The findings revealed that motivations for learning English may be categorized into four variables: Language Competency, Employment Opportunity, Personal Knowledge, and Cultural Communication. The reasons provided by the 58 students currently enrolled are distributed as 38% Language Competency, 32% Employment Opportunity, 19% Personal Knowledge, and 11% Cultural Communication. As for the graduates of the program in English language and literature, 36% were motivated by the need to improve their Language Competency, 36% by the wish to increase their Personal Knowledge, and 29% by the goal of improving Employment Opportunity. Strengths and weaknesses of the English language curriculum centered on subject matter and other components of curriculum such as faculty, teaching methods, evaluation procedures, as well as learning facilities and equipment. Considered to be strengths across institutions were the improvement of skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Increased knowledge about culture and literature, along with helpful faculty members and methods that encouraged student participation in learning were also rated as strengths. Weaknesses included insufficient time for practicing speaking English in class and inadequate amount of composition and translation assignments, as well as uninteresting textual materials for some of the Linguistics courses. Other weaknesses included too much lecturing as teaching method, teacher-oriented approach, and inadequate book collections in school libraries. Recommendations for curriculum improvement included requests for more academically competent faculty, preferred methods of teaching that encouraged participation, and enlargement of library book collections. Administrators are also reminded to inform students of any significant academic changes that could affect their academic studies or completion of their degree. This study indicates that Indonesian students, despite their seemingly submissive demeanor, have very clear ideas of their motivations for pursuing their education in English language. Also these students point out strengths and shortcomings of the language program, together with suggestions for improvements that are likely to increase productive learning. It is the task of the institutions, administrators and faculty alike to utilize the students as a means for designing better curricula that will benefit both the learners and the institutions, instead of waiting for governmental directives.

This dissertation reports an ethnographic investigation of the peer group talk of Hawaiian middle school students during an English language arts class. It is concerned with the academic and social agendas of the seventh grade participants. The purpose of the research was to investigate: (a) student labels and descriptions of their interactive accomplishments; (b) communicative features which characterized academic and social engagement; (c) relationships and identities invoked in the conversations. The study was conducted over one school year with primary focus on one group of four students. The analytic categories "doing English" and "socializing" were derived from field notes, video tapes, group and individual interviews, and copies of pertinent written documents. These student terms-for-talk foregrounded their perceptions of what was required to participate appropriately in the language arts classroom and recognition of "socializing" as an acceptable, prominent, and purposeful activity within the small peer group and larger classroom context. Instances-of-the-terms-for-talk were interrogated to identify topic patterns, features-of-the-talk, norms of interaction, and tone of engagement. Patterns of engagement related to peer group harmony included "getting busted," arguing and fighting, preserving the status of group members, using humor, and mediating tensions. Intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics were examined as dimensions of individual autonomy and group affiliation. Enactments of personhood or identity invoked in the terms for talk "doing English" and "socializing" were rendered as those of 'student' and 'friend' respectively. Monitoring, assessing, directing, clarifying, and confirming were salient interactional strategies associated with academic endeavors, while using humor emerged as the prominent feature of social interactions. The significance of this investigation relates to the value of socializing. Off-task conversations served to promote collective group identity, mediate tensions that arose during academic engagement, and further develop the social and personal identities of the participants. These insights contribute to the literature on face-to-face interactions in classrooms by legitimizing "socializing" or off-task talk as an activity form that can serve to expedite on-task or academic interactions such as "doing English." The results of the study expand our understandings of how students categorize, describe, and construct classroom events.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Lorna Earl.

This research explored the effects of implementing a curriculum based on important principles of Waldorf education with a Latino student population enrolled in a Transitional Bilingual Education program for gifted Hispanic students attending a public school in central Massachusetts. Qualitative research methods were employed in order to record how the students interpreted specific experiences and to gain insight and understanding concerning the impact of a curriculum based on Waldorf education principles used with bilingual/bicultural students. The study focused on two groups of bilingual gifted classrooms--a sixth grade in a Magnet school and a fourth grade in a community school. All of the students were Puerto Rican with the exception of one girl from El Salvador. Data used for this research study were collected for a period of four months through observation, videotaping, audiotaping, student interviews, and field notes. The finished products of the students were also considered data. The research revealed that the students became connected to the curriculum in three stages--social, physical, and cognitive. The cognitive connection to the curriculum occurred most successfully when artistic activities preceded the introduction of intellectual concepts. This finding is compatible with the research of Martin L. Albert, Lorraine K. Obler, and Kenji Hakuta concerning language formation in bilingual individuals. Increased use of verbal language in the native and second language of the students, a positive sense of self, and increased motivation to learn were noted as results from the students' involvement with the curriculum. Recommendations were made by the researcher to reform traditional public school teaching practices so that a culturally and educationally relevant curriculum might be developed for language and culture minority Latino students.

Most of the studies conducted on bilingual education emphasize current educational problems. Instructional, administrative, fiscal, and political issues have highlighted the development of serious attempts to produce research accounts of the history of bilingual education in the United States. Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to find an accurate and global account of the legal struggle that allowed bilingual education to survive years of obstacles, intolerance, and success. Without utilization of recollected information on the legal process across the nation dealing with bilingual educational issues, it is rather difficult to make an objective assessment on the legal status of bilingual education within the educational and legal boundaries. This study focuses on the historical repercussions of the laws, consent decrees, and enactments favoring bilingual education across the country, specifically, the impact of those legislations that, according to the researcher's estimation, went beyond the notion of responding to political pressure. The notion of responding to the educational needs of linguistic minority students and the responsibility to a large constituency that would not understand the bilingual education concept produces the middle-road solution called "bilingual education" to pamper an everlasting educational problem. To explain the present situation of bilingual education, in general, and in Massachusetts, in particular, an historical sequence of the most important events affecting education is covered. An historical legal framework is included to provide a better understanding of the nation's educational view through the law and how cultural diversity has affected the development of education nationally. Major legal cases, as well as other legislation in favor of bilingual education, is explored in detail. After reviewing the history of laws, enactments, and consent decrees, and observing the present situation of bilingual education in this country, one has to conclude that bilingual programs have been programmed for failure. This study will enhance the information base of educators, parents, community activists, and others who need to work with linguistic minority students coming from educational systems that have denied them the right to learn. Furthermore, the intent of this dissertation is to put forth information central to the development of initiatives to aid parents, students, and educators in overcoming obstacles created by unclear bilingual laws and biased to bilingualism politicians or school administrators.

The purpose of this study was to describe how meaning was socially constructed within a task-based small cooperative learning group. The group was composed of five native English and English as a Second Language speaking teachers and teachers-in-training enrolled in a graduate course entitled "Curriculum Development for Heterogeneous Classes" in the Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies Department in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts. This study examined the claim that participants in cooperative learning groups must be willing to set their personal beliefs, desires, and agendas aside in order to focus their attention on the learning needs of their peers and to shift the attention of their peers to explicitly relevant information (Gee, 1990). Further, groupwork is described as an interactional experience that involves conflict, tension, and individual risk-taking behaviors (McCutcheon, 1995). This study examined the claim that these behaviors can have a positive effect on a group's process when the willingness to analyze conflict and tension through the risk-taking process of revealing one's experience, perception, and self are present (McCutcheon, 1995). This study researched these claims by investigating the discourse of a small cooperative learning group in this course. This study provides an ethnographic thick description of the normative patterns that emerged through the group's work. These include the communicative norms that were co-constructed prior to and after the naming and analyzing of conflict. The results of this study reveal that participants were willing to focus their attention onto the needs of their peers and were willing to focus the attention of their peers to explicitly relevant information after conflict was named. Analyzing conflict was not easily obtained in this group. Members avoided and resisted this process. However, naming conflict was seen to have a purpose in this cooperative learning group and provided a rich source of insight about the complexities of conflict, tension, and individual risk-taking behaviors in cooperative learning settings composed of native English and English as a Second Language speaking learners.

In 1995 an Aesthetics and Arts Criticism substrand was included in The Arts Curriculum and Standards Framework document for schools in Victoria, Australia. The researcher believed that in order to implement the new curriculum requirements and cope with the complexities that accompanied the emergence of postmodern art, teachers would need to alter their practice and find strategies for encouraging greater student participation and critical thinking in art room discussions. (For complete abstract open document)

Submitted by CAMILA JOSEFA DOS SANTOS NUNES (nunescamila83@hotmail.com) on 2018-06-19T22:24:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 CAMILA_ROSSATO_dissertação.pdf: 1214362 bytes, checksum: 9bf52b1596804c3c1ec69470be3b9876 (MD5) / Rejected by Laura Mariane de Andrade null (laura.andrade@ia.unesp.br), reason: Solicitamos que realize uma nova submissão seguindo as orientações abaixo: - o nome do autor deve constar de forma idêntica a dos sistemas da Universidade (Camila Josefa dos Santos Nunes), tanto no campo de autor (preenchido no formulário) como no arquivo da dissertação (capa, folha de rosto e outros elementos pré-textuais). Solicitamos esta alteração pois a dissertação é um documento oficial que ficará registrado e não pode conter dois nomes de autores diferentes. Agradecemos a compreensão. on 2018-06-28T19:23:01Z (GMT) / Submitted by CAMILA JOSEFA DOS SANTOS NUNES (nunescamila83@hotmail.com) on 2018-06-29T21:22:54Z No. of bitstreams: 2 CAMILA_ROSSATO_dissertação.pdf: 1214362 bytes, checksum: 9bf52b1596804c3c1ec69470be3b9876 (MD5) CAMILA_ROSSATO_dissertação.pdf: 1214362 bytes, checksum: 9bf52b1596804c3c1ec69470be3b9876 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Laura Mariane de Andrade null (laura.andrade@ia.unesp.br) on 2018-07-05T14:21:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 rossato_cjn_me_ia.pdf: 1214362 bytes, checksum: 9bf52b1596804c3c1ec69470be3b9876 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-05T14:21:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 rossato_cjn_me_ia.pdf: 1214362 bytes, checksum: 9bf52b1596804c3c1ec69470be3b9876 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-23 / Esta pesquisa trata das possibilidades de experiência estética no ensino de artes por meio da aproximação da linguagem audiovisual e as formas de criação, produção e compartilhamento dos dispositivos digitais. O contexto que recorto como privilegiado para a minha análise é a escola municipal em que leciono aulas para crianças e adolescentes do Ensino Fundamental I e II, EMEF Profª Marina Melander Coutinho, localizada na zona sul de São Paulo. É a partir da prática com os estudantes de 7º ao 9º ano do Ensino Fundamental II, inicialmente envolvendo fotografia e cinema, seguida da ampliação das formas de criação de narrativas visuais vivenciadas na rede cibernética, que se consolida um fazer artístico em arte-educação que considere as tramas simbólicas e a transitoriedade de ambientes característicos da vida contemporânea e a ressignificação de uma educação voltada para o sujeito e os sentidos de suas experiências. Dessa forma, o trabalho articula diferentes procedimentos para a coleta de dados: levantamento teórico para problematizar a experiência docente, registros dos estudantes durantes e no pós-aula e registro docente acerca do processo. Ao longo da análise pretendeu-se destacar a função do professor como protagonista de sua jornada e mediador da inteligência coletiva, a apropriação dos elementos do ciberespaço e a importância da imagem-som, representadas na fotografia, cinema, televisão e a internet combinadas para propor novos roteiros pedagógicos baseados na incorporação da cultura multimídia. / This research deals with the possibilities of the a esthetic experience of the aproximation of audiovisual language and the formation of criativity production and sharing of digital devices. The context that I outline as priviligied for my analysis is the Municipal school where I teach children and teenagers of Elementary School I and II at EMEF Profª Marina Melander Coutinho, located in the southern region of the city of São Paulo. Starting with the experience of dealing with 7 th to 9 th grade students of Elementary School II, initially involving photography and cinema, followed by enlargement of the creative models of visual narratives that exist in the cybernetic network, and consolidates an artistic criativity in art education consedering the symbolic plots and the transition of surroundings which are characteristics of contemporay and the reinterpretation in education which is directed to the subject and meaning of those experiences. Therefore this project articulates different procedures for the obtaining of facts: theoretical survey, to question the teaching experience, comments of students during and after classes and teacher notes regarding this event. All during the analisies there was an intetion to detail the role of the teacher as a character and mediator of collective intelligence appropriation of cyberspace elements and the importance of the image - sound which are represented in photography, cinema, televison and the internet together to propose new pedagogical scripts based on the incorporation of the multimedia culture.

O objetivo deste trabalho à refletir sobre a dimensÃo estÃtica na formaÃÃo de nossos educadores oriundos das licenciaturas e dos cursos de Pedagogia, pois acreditamos ser ela indispensÃvel para que o professor possa ofertar um ensino significativo aos seus alunos, servido por uma rica experiÃncia cultural. Tal formaÃÃo deveria levÃ-lo a preocupar-se com os processos criativos que envolvem a crianÃa e o adolescente em fase de escolarizaÃÃo. Para abordar o tema, subdividimos a tese em dez capÃtulos. ApÃs introduzir a temÃtica, fazemos uma compilaÃÃo de momentos da histÃria, desde a RenascenÃa, em que a estÃtica à valorizada em sua dimensÃo formativa humana, para, posteriormente, num terceiro e quarto capÃtulos, abordar a questÃo da formaÃÃo de educadores e o ensino das artes atravÃs dos tempos atà a pÃs-modernidade. A partir do quinto capÃtulo, nos detivemos na realidade brasileira, esclarecendo sobre aspectos relevantes dos nossos traÃos socioculturais atà os dias de hoje, buscando preparar o leitor para o nosso foco central, qual seja o ensino de artes no Brasil de hoje. No sexto capÃtulo, refletimos sobre o campo da estÃtica no quadro da formaÃÃo docente donde concluÃmos que, embora as diretrizes para formaÃÃo do educador propalem um necessÃrio conhecimento, por parte dos docentes, em termos de cultura, arte e estÃtica, estes elementos estÃo ausentes dos programas das licenciaturas e da Pedagogia. Ainda, com relaÃÃo à formaÃÃo do educador, à constatado no presente trabalho que mesmo os professores de artes carecem, em sua formaÃÃo, de conhecimentos especÃficos na Ãrea, uma vez que a grande maioria, embora lecione arte, à graduada em outras Ãreas, fato decorrente da falta de oferta de cursos de licenciaturas na Ãrea. Tendo em vista a situaÃÃo acima mencionada esta pesquisa de doutorado propÃs, em sua metodologia, uma pesquisa-aÃÃo onde realizaram-se aÃÃes pragmÃticas no sentido de favorecer um processo de formaÃÃo a um grupo de professores em que a Arte foi vista como eixo central com a finalidade de ser uma opÃÃo aos interessados em ampliar experiÃncias com Arte e, assim, fortalecer o processo criativo de ensino escolar. Os instrumentos adotados foram: CriaÃÃo de uma AssociaÃÃo Profissional ligada ao Ensino de Artes; ManutenÃÃo de um grupo de estudo em: Arte, Cultura e EducaÃÃo; RealizaÃÃo de seminÃrios, oficinas; InstalaÃÃo de uma DVDTeca de artes visuais, bem como a criaÃÃo de uma sala de estudos e outra de Ãudio-visual ligadas à pesquisa. Finalizamos o presente trabalho corroborando com o que à consenso entre os autores: a imperatividade da formatividade da arte no desenvolvimento humano, por inÃmeros aspectos: o fomento da imaginaÃÃo, o domÃnio de tÃcnicas, a flexibilidade no pensamento; entre outros. Acreditamos que o processo de reformulaÃÃo curricular pelo qual passam os cursos de Pedagogia e Licenciaturas em geral, em funÃÃo das novas diretrizes para formaÃÃo docente, oferece uma grande oportunidade de formaÃÃo numa perspectiva de totalidade que, no nosso entender, permite uma polÃtica cultural mais consistente para a formaÃÃo docente. / The aim of this paper is to think over the aesthetics dimension in the training of our teachers from the Undergraduate Course and the Education Course, because we believe it is essential for the teacher to offer a meaningful teaching to his students, plenty of rich cultural experiences. Such training should make him worry about the creative processes that involve the children and the adolescents in the education period. In order to approach this subject, we divided the thesis in ten chapters. After introducing the subject matter, we made a compilation of the historical moments, since the Renaissance, when the aesthetics is appreciated in its human formation dimension, to forward in the third and fourth chapters, to deal with the teachers training and the teaching of arts from the beginning of the history up to the modern age. From the fifth chapter on, we focused on the brazilian reality, clarifying relevant aspects of our sociocultural features up to the present days, aiming to prepare the reader to our main focus, the teaching of arts in Brazil nowadays. In the eight chapter, we think over the aesthetics field in the teachers training area. Thus, we concluded that, although the guidelines to the teachers training require a knowledge by the teachers, in terms of culture, arts and aesthetics, these elements are absent in the Undergraduate and Pedagogy programs. Yet, in connection to the teachers training, it is assumed in this paper that even the teachers of arts need, in their teaching, specific knowledge in their area. The great majority of teachers, in spite of teaching arts, they are graduated in other areas; it can be explained by the lack of Undergraduate courses offerred in this area. According to the situation mentioned above, this thesis proposes, in its methodology, an action research by which were done pragmatic actions aiming a training process to a group of teachers in which the art was seen as a central axis, with the purpose of being an option to the interested in adding experiences with arts and so that, it improves the creative process of scholar teaching. The tools used were: the creation of a professional association linked to the teaching of arts; maintenance of a group of study in arts, culture and education; achievement of seminars and workshops; installation of an audio visual room, as well as the creation of a study room connected to the research. We end this present paper exhibiting what is a consensus among the authors: the imperative quality of the art training in the human development, for several aspects: the stimulus to the imagination, the mastery of techniques, the maleability of the thought, so on. We believe that the process of the syllabus reformulation of the Pedagogy and Undergraduate Courses in general, due to the new teachers training guidelines, offers a great opportunity of training in its totality, as we can see, that allows a more consistent cultural politics to the teachers training.