Though scholars have discussed how reflective writing can benefit students in college-level writing classes, little research has focused on students’ perceptions of this kind of writing. This study examines the curriculum of a particular first-year writing course, as well as student reflective writing that was created for the class. Research questions focus on how students used reflective writing to articulate their understandings of audience and academic discourse, two curricular concerns that tend to be prevalent in first-year writing courses. To answer these questions, I studied examples of student reflective essays, conducted interviews with eight students, and maintained researcher field notes. I analyzed this data using discourse analysis to understand how the institution constructed itself, students, and me. I also explored how students used language to engage in particular building tasks associated with writing for particular audiences and engaging in particular academic discourses. My findings suggest that students perceive that reflective writing can lead to opportunities for expanded dialogues between students and teachers, and can facilitate student learning of academic discourse.

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The construct social impact has been shaping debates and supporting decision making in many segments of society. From research agendas in academia to the missions of corporations, social impact is easily presented as one of the centers of concern. Despite all this relevance, little is known about social impact\'s conceptual and paradigmatic approaches that frame the social impact academic research agenda and, similarly, the meaning-making processes that lead academics and practitioners\' understanding of social impact. This thesis fills this gap in three parts: first, by characterizing the academic research agenda on social impact over the years and building a snapshot of its paradigmatic orientation; second, by studying the academic discourse to understand the academic meaning-making processes of the social impact concept; third, by analyzing the discourse of practitioners from the Brazilian social finance ecosystem to unveil regularities and differences on their processes of signification of social impact and how these meanings affect their practices. To characterize the academic research agenda on social impact, I use bibliometric techniques and structured literature review. The contributions of this characterization are both the methodology applied and discussions on how social impact studies can advance. I show that research on social impact is rapidly expanding and integrate insights from environmental, social and economic related areas. Besides its interdisciplinary trait, the social impact research is mostly of positivist nature, especially interested in assessment. These results inform how social impact research can advance and proposes more subjective inquiries to complement the positivist studies, as more comprehensive approaches increase the potential for integrating scientific knowledge into decision making. To address the need for interpretative studies about social impact, I analyze the discourse of academic literature on social impact. To this end, I apply the social constructivist lenses and the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD). The analysis shows that, at least, three different classifications of social impact emerge from the academic discursive construction: 1) social impact as a dynamic force; 2) social impact as a side-effect of development; and 3) social impact as a performance metric. Besides some expected differences across different research fields, I also observe regularities: social impact is perceived as measurable, multifaceted and interaction-dependent. Finally, these uncovered regularities, particularly in works related to social entrepreneurship that construct social impact as a metric of performance, puts social impact as the key concept that connects the actors in these scenarios. Thus, I also apply social constructivist lenses and SKAD to gain insights on the construction of social impact by Brazilian impact investors and social entrepreneurs. In summary, I find that differences in the meaning-making process of social impact influence the way in which social problems are understood, as well as the designing of solutions and, consequently, the metrics to assess such solutions. Also, I observe how different meaning-makings of social impact shape investor-investee relationships. This thesis concludes with guidelines on how future academic research, social impact investors and social entrepreneurs can benefit from the important aspects uncovered through the analysis of their discourses / O construto impacto social tem moldado os debates e apoiando a tomada de decisões em muitos segmentos da sociedade. Desde agendas de pesquisa acadêmica até às missões das corporações, impacto social é colocado como um dos centros de interesse. Apesar da relevância, pouco se conhece sobre as abordagens conceituais e paradigmáticas da agenda de pesquisas acadêmicas sobre o tema impacto social, ou como sobre como acadêmicos e profissionais constroem diferentes entendimentos de impacto social. Esta tese preenche essa lacuna em três estágios: primeiro, caracterizando a agenda de pesquisa acadêmica sobre o impacto social ao longo dos anos e construindo um retrato de sua orientação paradigmática; segundo, estudando o discurso acadêmico para compreender como a comunidade acadêmica constrói significados de impacto social; terceiro, analisando o discurso de atores do ecossistema brasileiro de finanças sociais para desvelar seus processos de significação do termo impacto social, bem como os efeitos desses significados em suas práticas. Para caracterizar a agenda de pesquisa acadêmica sobre impacto social, eu utilizo técnicas bibliométricas e revisão estruturada da literatura. Eu mostro que a pesquisa sobre impacto social está se expandindo rapidamente e integra contribuições de diferentes áreas de pesquisa. Além de seu traço interdisciplinar, a pesquisa de impacto social é majoritariamente de natureza positivista, especialmente interessada em avaliação. Esses resultados informam como a pesquisa de impacto social pode avançar e propõe lentes de pesquisa mais interpretativas para complementar os estudos positivistas e aumentar o potencial de integração do conhecimento científico na tomada de decisão. Como um primeiro passo para preencher a lacuna de estudos interpretativos sobre impacto social, eu analiso o discurso da literatura acadêmica sobre impacto social. Para tanto, aplico as lentes do construtivismo social e da Sociologia do Conhecimento Aplicada do Discurso (SKAD). A análise mostra que, pelo menos, três classificações diferentes de impacto social emergem da construção discursiva acadêmica: 1) o impacto social como uma força dinâmica; 2) impacto social como efeito colateral do desenvolvimento; e 3) impacto social como uma métrica de desempenho. Além de algumas diferenças esperadas em diferentes campos de pesquisa, também observo regularidades: o impacto social é percebido como mensurável, multifacetado e dependente de interação entre agentes. Finalmente, essas regularidades descobertas, particularmente em trabalhos relacionados ao empreendedorismo social que constroem o impacto social como uma métrica de desempenho, colocam o impacto social como o conceito-chave que conecta os atores nesse cenário. Assim, eu também aplico as lentes do construtivismo social e SKAD para entender como se dá a construção do impacto social por investidores de impacto e empreendedores sociais brasileiros. Em resumo, percebo que as diferenças no processo de construção de significado de impacto social influenciam a maneira como os problemas sociais são compreendidos, bem como a concepção de soluções e, consequentemente, as métricas para avaliar tais soluções. Além disso, observo como os diferentes significados do impacto social modelam as relações entre investidor e investido. Esta tese conclui com orientações sobre como futuros pesquisadores, investidores de impacto social e empreendedores sociais podem se beneficiar dos aspectos descobertos através da análise de seus discursos

Thesis (M. Com. (Accountancy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Accountancy, 2014. / This paper reports the findings of an action research intervention designed to explore the student experiences of a lecturer’s role-modelling specific cognitive self-regulated learning (SRL) skills on third year Financial Accounting students’ motivation and strategies for learning. The intervention involved a series of enrichment tutorials with a pilot group of Financial Accounting III students at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. A mixed methods research approach was used in the study. Qualitative data was collected in the form of verbal and written feedback from group participants and the lecturer’s research diary. Quantitative data was gathered by means of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), which was used to measure the students’ motivations and strategies for learning before and after the intervention. The intervention involved a lecturer role-modelling specific learning skills through the use of active learning activities. The skills role-modelled focussed on the following MSLQ learning strategies: rehearsal, organisation, elaboration, critical thinking, meta-cognitive self-regulation, and time and study environment management. Results suggest that role-modelling in an active learning environment does help students to implement SRL skills and experience the value of using the skills. Students reported making changes to their learning approaches to Financial Accounting III as a result of the intervention. Additionally the study identified the need for students to be taught the academic discourse of financial accounting within the course content.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e TecnolÃgico / A evidencialidade à uma categoria lingÃÃstica utilizada como estratÃgia que permite a manipulaÃÃo das informaÃÃes quanto à fonte do conhecimento e ao grau de (des)comprometimento do produtor com essa fonte. No intuito de investigar a manifestaÃÃo dessa categoria na construÃÃo das dissertaÃÃes acadÃmicas no portuguÃs brasileiro contemporÃneo, objetiva-se: a) rediscutir o estatuto da evidencialidade como categoria lingÃÃstica; b)analisar as relaÃÃes entre modalidade e evidencialidade; c) verificar as estratÃgias utilizadas no uso das marcas de evidencialidade no trabalho cientÃfico de grau, do tipo dissertaÃÃo; d) identificar, descrever e analisar as marcas lingÃÃsticas evidenciais no trabalho cientÃfico de grau do tipo dissertaÃÃo; e) relacionar o uso de evidenciais com estratÃgias para efeito de (des)comprometimento na construÃÃo textual. Ao identificar e interpretar as marcas evidenciais na construÃÃo dos textos acadÃmicos, a pesquisa busca contribuir para a explicitaÃÃo dos efeitos de sentido vinculados à veiculaÃÃo das informaÃÃes de forma estratÃgica, jà que essas marcas sÃo utilizadas com propÃsitos diversificados, como por exemplo: recurso ao chamado âargumento de autoridadeâ, atenuaÃÃo da responsabilidade em relaÃÃo ao que à dito, modalizaÃÃo no contÃnuo entre a certeza e a nÃo-certeza, sinalizando que algo nÃo està sendo dito de forma categÃrica e sugerindo um grau de (des)comprometimento em relaÃÃo à verdade da proposiÃÃo, como tambÃm um posicionamento crÃtico em relaÃÃo à fonte da informaÃÃo, permitindo uma correta avaliaÃÃo do conteÃdo assimilado pelo leitor, dentre outros. A anÃlise, orientada por pressupostos funcionalistas, conta com uma dimensÃo teÃrica, voltada para a rediscussÃo dos limites conceituais entre as categorias modalidade e evidencialidade, e uma dimensÃo analÃtica, que, em constante diÃlogo com a teoria, investiga, qualitativa e quantitativamente, o uso de marcas da evidencialidade na dissertaÃÃo acadÃmica, trabalho que à requisito para a obtenÃÃo do tÃtulo de mestre. A escolha do gÃnero para a constituiÃÃo do corpus justifica-se pela suposiÃÃo de que esse à um dos gÃneros textuais que apresenta maior quantidade de informaÃÃo cuja fonte nÃo à o prÃprio autor, o que condiciona o uso das marcas de evidencialidade na relaÃÃo observÃvel com o grau de (des)comprometimento do produtor relativamente à informaÃÃo veiculada. A obtenÃÃo das 290 ocorrÃncias para esta pesquisa concretizou-se a partir da organizaÃÃo de um corpus constituÃdo por dez dissertaÃÃes acadÃmicas da Ãrea de CiÃncias Humanas, das quais se utilizaram, como material de anÃlise, a introduÃÃo e a conclusÃo. Os resultados obtidos verificaram os efeitos de sentido associados ao uso de meios de expressÃo evidencial na construÃÃo da argumentaÃÃo em dissertaÃÃes, comprovando que a evidencialidade no discurso acadÃmico, em particular no corpus coletado, à mais utilizada para promover um baixo comprometimento, tendo o verbo como o meio lingÃÃstico mais utilizado e as noÃÃes evidenciais inferencial e citativa como as mais freqÃentes. / Evidentiality is a linguistic category used as a strategy to deal with information, considering the producerâs source of knowledge and his extent of (un)commitment to this source. In order to investigate the manifestation of this category in the construction of academic dissertations written in contemporary Brazilian Portuguese, this work aims to: a) rediscuss the status of the evidentiality as a linguistic category; b) analyse the relationship between modality and evidentiality; c) verify the strategies used to indicate evdentiality in scientific works such as dissertations; d) identify, describe and analyse linguistic marks of evidentiality in such works; e) relate the use of evidentials to strategies of (un)commitment in the production of a text. Though the identification of evidentiality marks in academic texts, this work aims to contribute to explicit the sense effects related to the strategic transmition of information, since these marks are used with different purposes, like: use of the authority argument, reduction of responsibility in relation to what is being said; certainty/uncertainty modalization, suggesting that something is being said in a non-categorical way, suggesting a certain degree of (un)commitment in relation to the truth of the proposition, as well as showing a critical position in relation to the source of information, allowing a correct evaluation of the content taken in by the reader; among other purposes. The analysis, based on functionalist presuppositions, rediscusses the conceptual limits between modality and evidentiality. It investigates, in terms of both quality and quantity, the use of evidentiality marks in academic dissertations. This genre was chosen due to the supposition that it is one of the textual genres whose source of information is mostly not the author himself. This fact influences the use of evidentiality marks in relation to the degree of the producerâs (un)commitment to the information provided. The 290 ocurrencies were collected from a corpus which comprises 10 academic dissertations in Humanity Studies. Only the introduction and the conclusion sections of these Works were considered. The results showed that the sense effects are associated to the use of evidentiality expressions in the kind of argumentation process in dissertations. This proves that the evidentiality in the academic discourse, particularly in the corpus collected, is used especially to assure a lower degree of commitment, being the verb the linguistic means most chosen to express this, and the inferential and quotative evidentiality notions as the most frequent ones.

Esta tese focaliza o ensino de língua espanhola numa região do Centro-Sul do estado do Paraná, Brasil. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de caráter discursivo e etnográfico, que se estrutura a partir de uma dupla articulação, a que se denomina políticas e práticas linguísticas. No que tange à primeira articulação, analisam-se textos produzidos na universidade e textos regulamentadores do ensino, notadamente, parâmetros, orientações e diretrizes curriculares, para investigar como as políticas contidas nestes documentos contemplam a realidade multilíngue do Brasil. Para tanto, apoia-se nas perspectivas discursivas propostas por Bourdieu (1998) e por Authier-Revuz (1998; 1999). No que concerne à segunda articulação, detém-se no estudo de práticas linguísticas escolares, com o intuito de compreender como ocorre a gestão das línguas em um contexto em que convergem o ucraniano e o português como línguas veiculares, e a língua espanhola como a língua estrangeira que se ensina no currículo escolar. Em vista disso, elabora-se uma discussão sobre o conceito de alternância linguística em contextos de aprendizagem, a partir das perspectivas defendidas por Nussbaum (1998) e Py (2004), bem como sobre a gestão das línguas como reflexo do desenvolvimento de uma competência plurilíngue (MOORE, 2009). Os resultados desta pesquisam apontam que, embora as produções e publicações atuais evidenciem um movimento em direção ao estudo das realidades multilíngues, a política linguística que atravessa estes textos ainda pauta-se em ideais monolíngues. Em relação às práticas linguísticas escolares, observou-se que os alunos manifestam um saber elaborado das línguas, ao alternarem entre o português, o ucraniano e o espanhol, e ao negociarem seus conhecimentos linguísticos com as docentes. No entanto, não reconhecem as suas práticas como plurilíngues. Assim, pois, defende-se a necessidade de uma reconceitualização do ensino de línguas, tanto ao problematizar os discursos hegemônicos sobre as línguas, como ao trabalhar para que práticas linguísticas plurilíngues sejam legitimadas, sobretudo, na escola. / This thesis focuses on the Spanish language teaching in the south-central area of the Paranas state, Brazil. Its a discursive and ethnographic research which is structured from a double articulation called politics and linguistics practices. Regarding to the first articulation, texts produced in the universities are analyzed, as the curricular guidelines and orientations, in order to investigate how the politics contained in these documents contemplates the Brazilian multilingual reality. The analysis is supported by the discursive perspectives proposed by Bourdieu (1998) and by Authier-Revuz (1998; 1999). Regarding to the second articulation, it is focused on the study of school linguistic practices, in order to understand how the languages management happens in a context which is used Portuguese and Ukrainian are used as vehicular languages and the Spanish language as a foreign language included in the school curriculum. As a result of this, it is prepared a discussion about the concept of linguistic switches, from the perspectives defended by Nussbaum (1998) and Py (2004), and about the languages management as a reflex of the multilingual competence development (MOORE, 2009). The results of this research point to, though the current productions and publications that show a movement in to the multilingual realities study, the linguistic politic contained in these texts, still, maintain themselves in the monolingual ideal. Concerning the school linguistic practices, it was observed that the students show an elaborated knowledge about the languages, when they switch among Portuguese, Ukrainian and Spanish and, also when they negotiate their linguistic knowledge with the teachers. But they dont recognize their practices as multilingual. Thus, there is a need of language teaching reconceptualization when discussing the hegemonic discourses about the languages, as well when working in order to legitimize the multilingual linguistic practices, mainly, at school.

This dissertation presents the findings of an on-line survey completed by 222 FYC (First Year Composition) instructors at universities and community colleges across the United States along with supplemental information derived from multiple open-ended interviews with seven FYC instructors in Arizona. Both survey and interview questions were designed to accomplish three primary goals: to determine which conventions of academic English FYC instructors identify as most important; to understand the common problems encountered by instructors in teaching those conventions, and; to solicit instructors' perceptions about ways in which learning outcomes might be improved. Results indicate general consensus among FYC instructors on which skills are both the most critical to academic English proficiency and the most difficult for their students to learn. At the same time, the survey and interview responses reflect widespread dissatisfaction with the ways in which academic English sequences are currently structured, apparently related to the instructors' common perception that the sequences are only "somewhat" successful in terms of preparing students for successful academic writing. Accordingly, the overwhelming majority of FYC instructors suggest changes for increasing the effectiveness of their programs; however, there is surprisingly little agreement among them on what those changes should be. The concluding section of this study presents pragmatic suggestions - congruent with a number of the instructors' observations - for reconfiguring FYC sequences. Additionally, it is argued that, aside from the targeted skills addressed by the instructors, the survey and interview responses indicate that academic English has been implicitly invested with culture-specific values which should be made explicit in instruction and which, given the gatekeeping status of FYC courses, the increasing diversity of student populations and the growing divide between the academic and wider cultures, require critical examination.

No description available.

This dissertation analysed the interactions between instructors and students in a language classroom in Russia. Using video-recorded data, instructor interviews, and student assessments from English classes at a private language school for children in the Urals region of Russia, a Conversation Analytic [CA] framework was employed to determine: how the talk (specifically turn-taking, adjacency pairs, and repairs) was sequentially organised; if and how the institutional setting constrained the talk; and if previously determined 'universal' structures of talk applied to this Russian academic discourse. This research also tested the hypotheses that the 'universal' structures of talk would apply regardless of gender, but would be used differently by the boys and girls, and by the instructors interacting with them. The relevance of the participants' institutional identities or gender to the interaction was also examined. The analysis showed that the participants did orient to their institutional identities of instructor or student, and the institutional setting did constrain the organisation of talk. The instructors' responses to the interviews and 'student assessment' questionnaires showed that they generally had positive attitudes toward girls and mixed attitudes toward boys. While the underlying sequences, the universal 'rules' of interaction, applied to interactions with both boys and girls, how (and how frequently) the sequences were used did vary by gender (i.e., typically 'male' and 'female' speech styles). Also, some of the organisation of talk showed that the instructors did orient to the students' genders in the classroom. This research is significant as the first CA study of the sequential organisation of talk in an institutional setting in Russia. In general, this research contributes to the CA findings on the organisation of talk in different languages, cultures, and settings; specifically, it provides the first point of comparison of Russian classroom interactions, from a CA perspective, with the large corpus of data already collected in classrooms in the Western tradition of education. Finally, this research is significant as it provides a thorough microanalysis of the relativity of gender-specific verbal behaviour; the analysis also shows how the instructors behave verbally, and in this way produce gender-specific communication styles. / Slavic Linguistics

Esta tese focaliza o ensino de língua espanhola numa região do Centro-Sul do estado do Paraná, Brasil. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de caráter discursivo e etnográfico, que se estrutura a partir de uma dupla articulação, a que se denomina políticas e práticas linguísticas. No que tange à primeira articulação, analisam-se textos produzidos na universidade e textos regulamentadores do ensino, notadamente, parâmetros, orientações e diretrizes curriculares, para investigar como as políticas contidas nestes documentos contemplam a realidade multilíngue do Brasil. Para tanto, apoia-se nas perspectivas discursivas propostas por Bourdieu (1998) e por Authier-Revuz (1998; 1999). No que concerne à segunda articulação, detém-se no estudo de práticas linguísticas escolares, com o intuito de compreender como ocorre a gestão das línguas em um contexto em que convergem o ucraniano e o português como línguas veiculares, e a língua espanhola como a língua estrangeira que se ensina no currículo escolar. Em vista disso, elabora-se uma discussão sobre o conceito de alternância linguística em contextos de aprendizagem, a partir das perspectivas defendidas por Nussbaum (1998) e Py (2004), bem como sobre a gestão das línguas como reflexo do desenvolvimento de uma competência plurilíngue (MOORE, 2009). Os resultados desta pesquisam apontam que, embora as produções e publicações atuais evidenciem um movimento em direção ao estudo das realidades multilíngues, a política linguística que atravessa estes textos ainda pauta-se em ideais monolíngues. Em relação às práticas linguísticas escolares, observou-se que os alunos manifestam um saber elaborado das línguas, ao alternarem entre o português, o ucraniano e o espanhol, e ao negociarem seus conhecimentos linguísticos com as docentes. No entanto, não reconhecem as suas práticas como plurilíngues. Assim, pois, defende-se a necessidade de uma reconceitualização do ensino de línguas, tanto ao problematizar os discursos hegemônicos sobre as línguas, como ao trabalhar para que práticas linguísticas plurilíngues sejam legitimadas, sobretudo, na escola. / This thesis focuses on the Spanish language teaching in the south-central area of the Paranas state, Brazil. Its a discursive and ethnographic research which is structured from a double articulation called politics and linguistics practices. Regarding to the first articulation, texts produced in the universities are analyzed, as the curricular guidelines and orientations, in order to investigate how the politics contained in these documents contemplates the Brazilian multilingual reality. The analysis is supported by the discursive perspectives proposed by Bourdieu (1998) and by Authier-Revuz (1998; 1999). Regarding to the second articulation, it is focused on the study of school linguistic practices, in order to understand how the languages management happens in a context which is used Portuguese and Ukrainian are used as vehicular languages and the Spanish language as a foreign language included in the school curriculum. As a result of this, it is prepared a discussion about the concept of linguistic switches, from the perspectives defended by Nussbaum (1998) and Py (2004), and about the languages management as a reflex of the multilingual competence development (MOORE, 2009). The results of this research point to, though the current productions and publications that show a movement in to the multilingual realities study, the linguistic politic contained in these texts, still, maintain themselves in the monolingual ideal. Concerning the school linguistic practices, it was observed that the students show an elaborated knowledge about the languages, when they switch among Portuguese, Ukrainian and Spanish and, also when they negotiate their linguistic knowledge with the teachers. But they dont recognize their practices as multilingual. Thus, there is a need of language teaching reconceptualization when discussing the hegemonic discourses about the languages, as well when working in order to legitimize the multilingual linguistic practices, mainly, at school.