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This dissertation is based on an interview study of twelve participants who had been students in various sections of College Writing taught by the researcher. This study focuses on participant descriptions of the writing they did in the class and its transformative impact on them. Based on the literature that claims that writing can transform and heal writers, this study seeks to understand how university students make sense of the ways in which writing makes personal and social change possible. I conducted two, ninety-minute individual interviews with each participant. I also collected complete College Writing portfolios from each participant. Data coding and analysis were ongoing and guided by a feminist poststructural perspective. Through recursive analytic induction, I coded transcribed interviews and student texts for references to writing and transformation. I looked for individual and shared stories, metaphors and discourses that participants used to construct their writing experience in College Writing. The identified sections of the data that referenced writing and transformation underwent discourse analysis. To conduct discourse analysis, I coded the data for the social, cultural and institutional discourses students drew on to shape their understanding of writing and transformation. Findings of the study include: (1) Students draw on multiple and complex discourses to define transformative writing. (2) Students identify multiple literacy practices as transformative. (3) Relationships within the classroom play an integral role in writing for transformation. (4) Feminist poststructuralist discourse can offer students the space to write for transformation. (5) Writing for transformation may offer resistance to the silencing of dominant discourses. This study suggests that for these students writing is a sociocultural practice deeply imbedded in their sense of self and their constructs of knowledge and power. This study also suggests that writing in a classroom that creates the space for students to connect their subjective experience and knowledge with academic literacy practices is transformative. This study argues feminist poststructuralist discourse can offer teachers and students subject positions of resistance and agency so students may enter academic discourse communities as speaking subjects and teachers may work toward a more transformative educational practice.

Attitude and motivation, two central concepts in the domain of educational psychology, have not been attended to as required in the literature on English language teaching and learning in Iraq. Consequently, the current study aims at launching a theoretical and empirical investigation into the role of both concepts in bringing about the current discouraging situation of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Iraq. The theoretical part of the work subsumes the first four chapters. Chapter One is the introduction where the problem to be investigated, the hypotheses, the aims of the research, and the reasons behind the choice of this topic for research have been stated. Chapter Two describes the educational system and the current situation of English language teaching and learning in Iraq. Worth mentioning in this respect are the different pre- and in-service training establishments, English textbooks and tests, and the supervision of teachers of English. Chapter Three is on attitude. The concept has been initially considered from a purely psychological viewpoint with focus on the historical review of attitude development, definition, basic components, main characteristics, formation, and change. Attitude in education forms a second point of departure with emphasis being laid on the role of the concept in teaching and learning foreign languages. Chapter Three ends with attitude measurement. Motivation, the topic of study of Chapter Four, is tackled in terms of its historical development, definition, and different theories. Reference is also made to the role of motivation in education in general, and in foreign language teaching and learning in particular. Accordingly, types of motivation, factors affecting pupils' and teachers' motivation, and teachers' role in motivating pupils form main subjects of discussion. Chapter Four ends with two sections; the first of which tackles the facets of difference between attitude and motivation, while the second deals with the differences between interest on the one hand, and attitude and motivation on the other. Chapter Five is on the method of research adopted to gather the data for the current study. It also contains the analysis of the Pupils' and Teachers' Attitudes and Motivation Questionnaires. Finally, some general remarks about the empirical part of the work are also made. Chapter Six presents the statistical analysis and survey results. It also contains some hypotheses on pupils' and teachers' attitudes and motivation. There is further analysis of some responses made by pupils and teachers which could not be hypothesized. This chapter ends with the analysis of headteachers' and supervisors' perceptions of English language teaching and learning in Iraq. The final chapter titled 'conclusion' contains the general conclusions arrived at by the researcher, followed by some implications for future work.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Elaine K. Horwitz. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, August, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 276-294)

The research and the study focus on the problem of dissociated learning. Why do students fail to connect with knowledge? The purposes of the study are: to summarize research pertaining to brain growth; to describe educational approaches and tactics consistent with this research; to test a brain research-based program designed to connect children to knowledge. The study rests on two research-based assumptions: strategies that connect dysfunctional or developmentally delayed students with thinking and learning will connect children in general with thinking and learning; educational activities integrating spatial information processing with linguistic processing will develop thinking skills more effectively than programs that do not. The apparent reason for the success of a spatial/linguistic program is that cross-modal activities mirror, or model, the integrated processes of the brain, impacting attention, emotion and logical operations. Increasing numbers of students fail to connect with writing. Many of these students can draw. Can drawing be used to connect these students to writing as thinking? The hypothesis is that a cross-modal activity combining drawing (a spatial activity) with writing (a linguistic activity) will develop descriptive, analytical and inferential thinking skills more effectively than a writing program that does not. The study targets children who receive special services, including those with language- and attention-related problems. To test the hypothesis, a quasi-experimental/control study was designed, involving 200 students in grades K, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in intact classrooms in two elementary schools. Approximately 2,000 pieces of data revealed a significant effect for the treatment, Drawing/Writing, on writing and thinking skills in the experimental group, including students who receive special services. The conclusions of the research are that brain research has relevance for education and that cross-modal activities provide antidotes to dissociated learning. The conclusion of the study is that, as a writing program, Drawing/Writing has broad usefulness and appeal.

This thesis describes an investigation into the capacity of foreign language (FL) teachers in Scottish secondary schools to make the target foreign language the sole or main means of communication with their pupils in the formal setting of the FL lesson. In the first part of the thesis, the reasons why FL teachers should behave in this way are explored. Relevant sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic theories are first discussed, together with their implications for FL teaching methodology. Contextual factors thought likely to influence the extent to which British FL teachers would be either willing or able to make the target language the medium of classroom communication are then reviewed. These have to do with a) the nature of the classroom as a social and sociolinguistic setting, and b) FL teachers' linguistic competence and beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning. Existing research on FL classroom interaction, and in particular on structural and functional characteristics of teacher FL talk, is also reviewed. The second part of the thesis reports an empirical study of the classroom talk of a group of teachers committed to the 'communicative approach' to FL teaching. These teachers' classroom use of French (the target FL) and English is described at several levels of detail, notably that of the teaching! learning activity and of the pedagogic move. Structural characteristics of teacher talk are also studied. Special attention is given to teachers' classroom management talk, and it is argued that the choice of French for this purpose is critical for enhancing pupils' experience of message-oriented target language use. comparison is made between the language use patterns of teachers characterised as 'High' and 'Low FL Users'; and an account is given of the discourse strategies which appear necessary to sustain high levels of FL use.

Acredita-se que a apropriação de uma língua estrangeira pelo sujeito através do ensino pode ser medida pela a aquisição de determinado grau de proficiência na língua-alvo, por meio de materiais e abordagens que possibilitem um ensino/aprendizagem bem-sucedido. Entendemos por bem-sucedido aquele procedimento que coloca o aprendiz em posição de intérprete historicizado (ASSOLINI, 2013, 2010), ou seja, aquele sujeito que ultrapassa a suposta literalidade dos sentidos, desprendendo-se da relação termo a termo. Isto posto, este trabalho objetiva: 1) analisar a forma como os recursos disponíveis no material didático oferecido pela Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo, por meio do programa São Paulo Faz Escola são discursivizados pelo sujeito-professor de inglês em escolas públicas do Estado de São Paulo; 2) descrever e analisar recortes desse material didático relacionando-os à fala dos sujeitos-professores. O corpus desta análise foi constituído por entrevistas semiestruturadas, realizadas com quatro professores da rede pública do estado paulista, assim como por recortes do material didático referido, buscando estabelecer relações entre o discurso dos sujeitosprofessores e esse material. A Análise de Discurso de matriz francesa (pêcheuxtiana) e as ciências da educação formam nosso arcabouço teórico-metodológico, por possibilitarem relações críticas com a linguagem de maneira ampla, e com o ensino de língua inglesa e o material didático, de forma particular. Os resultados das análises discursivas indicam que: 1) alguns sujeitos (se) silenciam ao falarem sobre o material didático; acreditam que (se) silenciando, esquivando-se, deixariam de significar tal material; 2) alguns sujeitos questionam o material didático, mas, apesar de tal inquietação, ocupam a posição de sujeitos enunciadores de dizeres e práticas preestabelecidas que não lhes fazem sentido; 3) a experiência dos sujeitos-professores, na sala de aula, não corresponde as suas formações imaginárias a respeito do aluno, da escola, nem do material didático; 4) assujeitados ideologicamente, não (se) percebem como profissionais capazes de ocupar a posição de intérpretes-historicizados, condição basilar para que tenham voz e se constituam como autores de seu próprio dizer. Palavras-chave: Material didático. Ensino de língua inglesa. Análise de discurso. / It is believed that foreign language acquisition can be assessed by the acquisition of a certain level of proficiency in the target language by means of usage of any material and approaches, allowing successful teaching/learning process. By well-succeeded, we understand the procedure in which the learner puts him/herself in a position of interpreter-historicized, defined by Assolini (2013, 2010) as the subject who goes beyond literality, free from term-to-term, or word-to-meaning relationships. This work aims at: 1) analyzing the ways through which the subject-teacher of English as a foreign language in public schools in the State of São Paulo puts the teaching material into discourse; 2) describing and analyzing sections of that material, offered by State Government, referred to in the interviews with subject-teachers. This study is based on the perspective of French Discourse Analysis, adopting the views of the philosopher Michel Pêcheux and the Social-Historical Theory of Literacy Acquisition. We understand that those theories allow critical relationships with language in a broad way, and more specifically, with English Language Teaching and its materials. The corpus of this analysis consists of selected excerpts from semistructured interviews with four state public school teachers, as well as sections of material offered by the State government, seeking correlations between the subject-teachers discourse and the teaching material. Our results lead to some observations: 1) some subjects resort to silence, attempting to avoid comments about the teaching material; 2) others, although incredulous about the offered material, assume the position of broadcasters of meaningless practices from that material; 3) teachers experience in the classroom do not correspond to their representation of the subject-learner, school or teaching material; 4) ideologically subjected, teachers do not see themselves as professionals capable of assuming position of interpreter-historicized, a basic condition to be aware of their own voice, authorship and subjectivity.

Esta pesquisa se realizou com o objetivo de conhecer os modos como concepções de linguagem incompatíveis se aproximam para a produção de documentos institucionais que norteiam a avaliação do que é considerado o bom uso da língua portuguesa e a boa escrita. No trabalho, analisaram-se os programas de língua portuguesa e de redação que fazem parte do manual do candidato (do período de 1977 a 2012), disponibilizado anualmente pela Fundação Universitária para o Vestibular, a FUVEST. Com a investigação, buscaram-se subsídios que sustentassem a tese de que a possibilidade de aproximação de concepções de linguagem distintas, por vezes contrastantes, em conteúdos propostos para processos institucionais de avaliação linguística, apoia-se no funcionamento de um princípio de coerência fundamentado em elementos do discurso jurídico. O funcionamento do princípio de coerência ordenaria os processos de associação de concepções de língua e linguagem não assimiláveis entre si, de modo a evitar que tensões ou contradições pudessem levar ao questionamento das proposições apresentadas para a avaliação dos conhecimentos linguísticos e à invalidação de processos de seleção social. O conceito de coerência, central para este trabalho, é entendido a partir da perspectiva da Análise do Discurso de linha francesa. Trata-se de um efeito de sentido que pode ser reconhecido a partir de marcas que possibilitam observar a função de sequências textuais em relações interdiscursivas. Como resultado da análise, constatou-se que a fundamentação em diferentes concepções de linguagem e a mobilização de teorias linguísticas distintas e nem sempre compatíveis se faz possível, pois, para o estabelecimento de parâmetros de avaliação linguística, recorre-se às bases normativas para os usos da linguagem, que circulam no ambiente escolar, na mídia e em documentos oficiais. O funcionamento do princípio de coerência faz com que nos documentos institucionais de referência para a avaliação linguística ressoe um discurso que não causa estranheza ao candidato, uma vez que os usos linguísticos satisfatórios são padronizados e exigidos em igualdade de condições a todos os participantes dos processos de avaliação. Assim, ganham força de lei, de modo que quem não os emprega adequadamente pode ser avaliado de forma negativa sem que essa avaliação se configure em discriminação. Por fim, com a pesquisa constatou-se que a reprodução de um discurso sobre a linguagem é uma estratégia que não se restringe à avaliação do que seja o bom uso da língua e a boa escrita, mas se trata de um recurso discursivo por meio do qual processos institucionais de avaliação linguística e seleção são validados como legítimos. / This research was carried out with the objective of knowing the means how incompatible conceptions of language approximate in order to produce institutional documents that guide the assessment of what is considered the good usage of the Portuguese language and the good writing. In the work, the programs of the Portuguese language and writing that are part of the candidate´s manual (period of 1977 to 2012), that it is annually available by the Fundação Universitária para o Vestibular, FUVEST, were analyzed. With the investigation subsidies were searched that could support the thesis that the possibility of the approximation of distinct conceptions of language that sometimes are contrasting, in contents that are proposed for the institutional processes of linguistic assessment, is based on the functioning of a coherence principle which is justified in elements of the legal discourse. The functioning of the coherence principle would order the processes of association of the conception of tongue and language that are unassimilable together, in a way to avoid that tensions or contradictions could lead to the questioning of the presented proposals of the assessment of the linguistic knowledge and the invalidation of the processes of social selection. The concept of coherence, central for this work is understood from the perspective of the Analysis of the Discourse from the French line. It is about an effect of sense that may be recognized from the marks that enable the observation of the function of textual sequences in interdiscursive relations. As a result of the analysis it was found that the grounding in different conceptions of language and the mobilization of distinct and not always compatible linguistic theories become possible thus, for the establishment of parameters of linguistic assessment it is drawn upon the normative bases for the usages of the language that surround the school environment, the media and the official documents. The acting of the coherence principle makes that in the institutional documents of reference for the linguistic assessment resonates a discourse that generates no awkwardness for the candidate once the satisfactory linguistic usages are standardized and demanded in equality of conditions to all the participants of the processes of assessment. Therefore they gain force of law so that one that does not properly employ them can be negatively evaluated and that review will not be set as discrimination. Finally with the research it was found that the reproduction of a discourse about the language is a strategy that it is not restricted to the evaluation of what it is the good usage of the language and the good writing, but it is a discursive resource through which institutional processes of linguistic assessment and selection are validated as legitimate.