Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 181-183).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1998. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 13, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Charles Harris (chair), Ronald Fortune, Curtis White. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 304-316) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2005. / Title from title page screen, viewed September 25, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Janice Neuleib (chair), Bob Broad, Claire Lamonica. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 221-233) and abstract. Also available in print.

<p> Adult education is a reciprocal relationship between adult learners and adult education practitioners. As such, it is essential to understand the experiences of adult educators and adult education practitioners as they teach adults. This study focuses on how ideas about race and racism are examined in the graduate-level classroom and the adult learners&rsquo; experience as they focus on subject matter that challenges their assumptions and forces them to create new understandings about race. This study examines, through the portraiture methodology, the experiences of a White researcher and the adult learners engaging in dialogues about race in a CRT course. </p><p> The findings of this study include an examination of my role as a White researcher engaging in dialogues in this CRT course, including an inquiry into my silences, trepidation, and feelings of helplessness during the classroom interactions. I also examine the ways in which the adult learners who participated in this course communicated their ideas to their peers as well as the understandings and misunderstandings of the themes presented in the course.</p><p>

A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University of Zululand, 2019. / Writing is dominant in schools and continues to be important for effective communication. Therefore, learners need to be up- skilled in writing skills as their everyday activities. This study was conducted to investigate the in-service training needs of educators in teaching writing skills in primary schools at eSwatini. The study responded to the questions: (a) To what extent are educators teaching languages, trained in teaching writing skills to primary school learners? (b) What in-service training needs do educators have in teaching writing skills of primary school learners? (c) What competencies do educators possess for teaching writing skills? The mixed method design was adopted for this study which triangulated focus group semi structured interview, documentary analysis and lesson observation. Purposive sampling was used to sample N=56 educators in eight primary schools and N= 6 trainers from three teacher training colleges. The mixed-method approach was used to collect data. Quantitative data were analysed using the statistics, frequencies and percentages as well as cross tabulation. Qualitative data from focus group interviews were analysed by identifying patterns and themes. The study revealed the lack of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in the teaching of writing skills. The findings imply that there no methods of teaching employ in teaching writing skills. In addition, the study findings imply that among other things, there was lack of parental involvement and lack of support from school administrators and government. Recommendations made from this study were that: in-service training department should strengthen workshops with regard to writing skills, there should be preparation of lessons, setting of test, scheme of work and marking of learners’ work. Furthermore, the training colleges should have comprehensive writing skills programmes for all pre-service educators, and not only those who major in languages.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the discourses that author basic writing in Texas and question how instructors of basic writing at a community college are constructed as well as constructive through discursive practices. Elements of Critical Discourse Analysis (Luke, 1995-1996; Faircloth, 2000) were employed to analyze primary source documents, publications, presentations, meeting minutes, public forum transcripts, professional literature and policies pertaining to the practice of developmental English since the adoption of the Texas Academic Skills Program and the Texas Success Initiative. The discourses of failure, economy and science were identified as authoritative systems of conventions and norms that operate through the practice of basic writing. A Foucaultian genealogical lens was then applied both to explore the power relations and categorizations processes that undergird the material consequences (Valle, 2005) of the discourses as well as to identify how the narratives of basic writing faculty intersect with the discourses. Findings suggest that the discourses of failure, economy, and science function in a reciprocal manner to promote distorted truth claims about students and basic coursework that effectively limit possibilities for and lend to increased governmental control over the future practice of developmental education. The instructors’ stories, however, provide critical disruptions to the discourses. Viewing their alternative understandings of basic writing alongside the recurrent statements that have constructed popular understandings of developmental English, this study foregrounds the urgent need for more research from practitioners within the field and better channels of communicating their scholarship and professional experiences in the public arena. / text

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Creative writing forms an essential part of the English language learning area in any curriculum. The expression of knowledge and ideas through writing is an integral part of the communication process; however, some learners struggle to express their thoughts and ideas in creative writing tasks. As such, this thesis strives to discover how creativity can be stimulated in order to assist learners in their written expression. Drama techniques, stimulation activities and other multi-literacy resources have been employed to try and understand the discovering and ‘finding creativity’ process through creative writing, journaling and performance in the drama classroom. The research utilises the action research methodology, employing participant observations, semi-structured interviews and reflective classroom discussions. It also uses the creative writing journals of the learners in an attempt to investigate how drama techniques can stimulate creativity for the creative writing process. The units of analysis in this case study are 13 grade 9 learners at a private school in the Western Cape, South Africa. The analysis of the data collected reveals that by utilising drama techniques, along with other stimuli and resources, in the classroom the process of creative writing become less troublesome and more enjoyable for both learners and teacher-researcher alike. Another finding is that the open, free and flexible atmosphere, which is created in the classroom assists learners not only with the development of their written expression, but also with verbal expression. The learners learn how to express their creative thoughts and ideas, about the world they live in, in a respectful, sensitive and empathetic manner. The creative writing programs have proved to be more than just tools to improve writing competence, but also have equipped learners with the tools to become creative, thinking citizens. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kreatiewe skryfwerk vorm ‘n essensiële deel van die Engelse leerarea in enige kurrikulum. Die uitdrukking van kennis en idees deur die skryfproses vorm ‘n integrale deel van die kommunikasieproses, maar sommige leerders vind dit uitdagend om aan hulle gedagtes en idees in kreatiewe skryftake uiting te gee. Met hierdie tesis beoog ek om dus om te ontdek hoe kreatiwiteit gestimuleer kan word om leerders met hulle geskrewe uitdrukkings vermoë te ondersteun. Dramategnieke, stimulerende aktiwiteite en ander meerdoelige geletterdheidshulpbronne is gebruik om te probeer verstaan hoe die ontdekking van die kreatiwiteitsproses deur kreatiewe skryf, joernaalinskrywings en opvoerings in die dramaklas, kan plaasvind. Hierdie studie het die aksienavorsingsmetodologie gevolg, waar deelnemende waarneming, semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude en reflektiewe klaskamergesprekke, asook die kreatiewe skryfjoernale van die leerders, gebruik is om te ondersoek in hoe ‘n mate dramategnieke kreatiwiteit vir die kreatiewe skryfproses kan stimuleer. Die studie is op 13 graad 9-leerders wat by ‘n privaatskool in die Wes-Kaap, onderrig word. Die analise van die versamelde data openbaar dat, wanneer dramategnieke in samewerking met ander stimulus en hulpbronne gebruik word, dit die kreatiewe skryfproses vergemaklik en dit meer genotvol vir beide die leerders en die onderwyser-navorser word. Nog ‘n bevinding toon dat die oop, vry en inskiklike atmosfeer, wat in die klaskamer geskep word, nie net die leerders in die ontwikkeling van hul geskrewe uitdrukking bygestaan het nie, maar ook met hul verbale uitdrukkingsvermoë. Die leerders het geleer hoe om hul kreatiewe gedagtes en idees oor hul individuele wêrelde in ‘n respekvolle, sensitiewe en empatiese manier uit te druk. Die kreatiewe skryfprogram blyk veel meer as bloot ‘n hulpbron te wees om die skryfvermoëns van die leerders te verbeter. Dit het hulle ook toegerus om kreatiewe, denkende landburgers te word.

Much research into assessment has concentrated on its role in learning and educational practice, issues relating to objectivity and reliability in assessment, and the political and policy implications of assessment more generally. The means by which assessors arrive at their judgement has received comparatively little attention and remains obscure. There has been a focus on factors relating to the product rather than the subjectively experienced process of assessment. A greater understanding of the process is important for the validity of assessment and its wider consequences for students and others. The aim of this study was to examine how assessors conceptualise and carry out the assessment of discursive writing produced by students in a higher education context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with experienced lecturers in health care subjects. The interviews and the data analysis were approached from within a hermeneutic phenomenological tradition, involving both description and interpretation. The participants' descriptions provided an analogue of what they thought they did cognitively as they assessed. These texts were then subjected to interpretation negotiated with participants to develop an understanding of the assessment process. There were two main findings relating to how participants carried out the process of assessment. Firstly, they made use of a framework of meanings that appeared in part to arise from the practice of evaluating in terms of grade-bands. These were viewed as having categorical identities with discontinuities between them, as opposed to representing ranges within a continuous scale. The data suggested that there were changes in the aspects of writing to which assessors paid attention (content versus argument/integration and components versus the whole), and the kinds of judgements they made (quantitative versus qualitative), at different points along the grade band scale. Secondly, the participants made use of six categories of processes during the course of performing an assessment. Some were objective and analytical while others were more subjective and integrative. They were not carried out sequentially, but appeared to be determined by the demands of the assessment task and to serve a function of simplification. The variety of processes within each category, their co-occurring usage and interdependence, and the selective use (or awareness) of processes by different assessors may help to explain some of the apparent complexity inherent in the assessment task, and the difficulty that experienced assessors demonstrate when trying to explain what it is they do and how they do it.

Thesis (M.A. (English)) --University of Limpopo, 2011. / In 2008, the National Department of Education in South Africa introduced a new curriculum known as the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) in the Grade 12 classes. Prior to the introduction of this new curriculum, the writing of essays in Grade 12 classes was treated as a once-off activity. The focus on essay activities was mainly on the product and after the assessment of such product-driven essays, teachers had no further interest in them except for recording marks when necessary. The paucity of interaction between teachers and learners may have contributed to the majority of learners writing incoherent essays and achieving low marks. This research study investigates whether teachers in the Moroke Circuit understand and implement the process approach in the writing of English essays in rural Grade 12 classes as prescribed by the NCS. The NCS advocates the use of the process writing approach in essay writing. The process writing approach encourages a partnership between teachers and learners. Teachers are expected to treat learners’ essays as improvable objects through pre-writing activities, self and peer assessment which Kasanga (2004:64) refers to as “multiple-draft multiple-reader writing instruction”. To achieve the aim of the study, learners’ essays were checked against the process writing checklist and the teachers’ responses in the questionnaire they were requested to complete as part of the study. The findings revealed that teachers in the Moroke Circuit do not fully understand the process writing approach and thus they do not fully implement it as advocated. There are various factors which may contribute to the learners’ poor writing skills, the main of which appear to be the teachers’ inadequate training and poor understanding of the process writing approach. Some teachers attended short training courses on NCS and others did not attended any. Based on the findings, it is recommended that teachers should receive adequate training in the process writing approach for it to be implemented as effectively as the NCS prescribes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1982. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-107). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.