The purpose of the study is to increase knowledge on how the didactic model Communicative Approaches can be used as support for analysing and design-ing chemistry education. Which gives students opportunities to explore their own and others' ideas in relation to the ideas of sciences and come to be more involved in the chemistry content. In this study we have used action research and made didactic modelling. We have exemplified how the didactic model Communicative Approaches can be used as support in the planning, implemen-tation, and evaluation of teaching in the subject of chemistry. Based on the didactic model, two teaching cycles with the same content were planned and carried out. In the teaching cycles, we worked with four diverse types of Com-municative approaches. In the planning, the dialogical/interactive communi-cation has mainly been prominent, but other approaches were noticed. For the students to explore a dialogical communication, we chose the concept of air and its properties. The collection of empirical data for the analysis and evalu-ation of the teaching design took place through video recording and on-site observations during the two teaching cycles. The result shows how the didactic model communicative approach became a support for increasing students' participation in chemistry education. The con-ceptual apparatus of the model gives structure to the analysis. Our conclusion is that the didactic model communicative approach can be a support for teach-ers to develop the teaching participation in the subject of chemistry in an orga-nized way in the earlier years of primary school.

This research explored Chinese college English teachers’ beliefs and conceptual change in relation to the government-mandated shift from the traditional grammar-based approaches to language teaching to communicative language teaching (CLT). This study employed an ethnographic approach and was conducted at a university in China. Six Chinese college English teachers agreed to participate in a three-month study during which their classroom teaching was observed and they were interviewed about their teaching experiences, understanding of the new teaching methods, and interpretations of the curriculum change. Three patterns of conceptual change were found in their beliefs about language teaching and learning: (a) change in teaching methods but no significant change in conceptions and beliefs, (b) change in both teaching methods and conceptions accompanied by painful conceptual conflict, and (c) change in both teaching methods and beliefs and an acquisition of broader curriculum perspectives. The stories and experiences of the participants indicate the complex, non-linear nature of conceptual development in their beliefs about language teaching. They struggled to expand their conceptual space by dwelling in the Zone of Between—between Chinese and Western educational traditions, between social, cognitive, and psychological processes of conceptual growth, between teaching and educating, and between curriculum-as-plan and curriculum-in-use. This study is expected to have suggestions for ongoing college English teaching in China, provide insight for the research of teachers’ beliefs related to curriculum development in other cultural contexts, and inform language teacher education and development programs. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-17 09:08:34.638

The purpose of the study is to examplify how to use the didatic model communicative approaches to support an proffessional experimental approach in the classroom when teaching science in primary school. This way of teaching science will lead to a more student active and dialogic communicative way of teaching. In this study the research approach didatic modeling was used with the inspiration of the cyclical process from action research. I have designed, implemented and evaluated two teaching cycles and designed a third cycle with the same content. In the study communicative approaches in my design were combined with Concept Cartoons. Furthermore, the didatic model can be used as a support in the implementation and evaluation of teaching science in order to analyse and revise the way of teaching science. In the evalutation the results show how the students get the chance to express themselves and devolope their thoughts in interaction with eachother when consciously using dialogic communicative and student active teaching. This study has exemplified how communictive approaches can be used in the science classroom to support and develop a more dialogic and student active teaching.

Klimatfrågan är ett ständigt aktuellt ämne i dagens samhälle och det tycks finnas en stor medvetenhet hos de flesta människor om att det krävs akuta insatser och stora livsstilsförändringar, om vi ska ha möjlighet att minska vår klimatpåverkan. Trots att klimatförändringarna lämnar få oberörda och många individer uppger sig dessutom vara både insatta och engagerade i klimatfrågan, så omsätts engagemanget inte alltid till handling. Denna miljösociologiska kvantitativa studie avser undersöka om olika typer av klimatbudskap har en inverkan på individens attityd gentemot klimatförändringar vid exponeringstillfället. Studien undersöker också huruvida det finns skillnader i individens socio-ekonomiska bakgrund som inverkar på deras självskattade klimatengagemang. I studien deltog 140 respondenter med varierande bakgrundsvariabler (ålder, kön, boendeort, utbildningsnivå och inkomst). Respondenterna som delades upp i två experimentgrupper och en kontrollgrupp, fick besvara en digital enkät med en kvasi-experimentell design.                                                                                                     Resultatet visade att de olika kommunikativa angreppssätten att förmedla frågor kring klimatet på, inte hade en inverkan på respondenternas attityd gentemot klimatförändringar vid exponeringstillfället. Det fanns inte heller en signifikant skillnad avseende respondenternas klimatengagemang mellan bakgrundsvariablerna boendeort och utbildningsnivå. Däremot visade resultatet en signifikant skillnad mellan män och kvinnor gällande skattat klimatengagemang, något som ligger i linje med tidigare forskning. / Climate change is a constantly debated issue in our society today, and most people seem to have a sense of awareness that we need to act urgently and make major changes in our lifestyle in order to decrease our impact on the climate. Despite the fact that climate change leaves few untouched and many individuals also claim to be both well informed and engaged in the climate issue, the commitment is not always put into action. This environmental sociological quantitative study intends to investigate whether different types of climate messages have an impact on the individual's attitude towards climate change at the time of exposure. The study also examines whether there are differences in the individual's socio-economic background that affect their self-rated climate commitment. In the study 140 respondents with varying background variables participated (age, sex, level of education, place of residence and income). Respondents who were divided into two experimental groups and one control group were asked to answer a digital survey with a quasi-experimental design.                                                                                                                The result showed that the different communicative approaches to conveying issues around the climate did not have an impact on the respondents' attitude towards climate change at the time of exposure. There was also no significant difference with respect to the respondents' climate commitment between the background variables residential area and level of education. However, the result showed a significant difference between men and women regarding estimated climate engagement, which is in line with previous research.

Kommunikation kan ske via tal, skrift eller kroppsspråk. Elever kommunicerar dagligen både hemma och i skolan. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad som kan påverka elevers muntliga förmåga, där studien är avgränsad till kommunikativa förhållningssätt, arbetsmetoder och klassrumsmiljö. En annan avgränsning är att studien genomförs på endast en skola eftersom det är begränsat med tid och resurser. Studien grundas på en kvalitativ ansats och de verktyg som används är observationer i två klasser och intervjuer med två lärare. Det hermeneutiska paradigmet och det sociokulturella perspektivet är den teoretiska ramen för studien. Under observationerna framkommer det att dialogisk, interaktiv, icke- interaktiv och auktoritativ kommunikation genomsyrar klassrummen. Dessutom visar resultatet att den arbetsmetod som lärarna använder mest är grupparbeten och att mindre grupper är mest givande. Det som framkommer under intervjuerna är att lärarna anser att relationer och motivation är sammanvävda och påverkar varandra, vilket överensstämmer med den tidigare forskningen.

L'enseignement du français langue étrangère à Taiwan: Analyse linguistique et praxéologique. C'est l'expérience qui nous a incitée à choisir le sujet de notre travail : en tant qu'étudiante en littérature française et enseignante de FLE à Taiwan et en tant qu'étudiante et doctorante en milieu francophone belge, nous avons pu constater les carences du système éducatif taiwanais tel que nous y avons participé. La réalisation de l'interdépendance étroite entre langue et culture a été le point de départ d'un approfondissement des concepts culturels sinophones (provenant du confucianisme, du taoïsme et du bouddhisme) et de leur explication destinée aux collègues francophones qui s'étonnaient parfois du peu de succès de méthodes pourtant éprouvées jusqu'alors. Nous avons été amenée à l'étude contrastive des langues française et chinoise (systèmes graphique et phonétique, morphosyntaxe, organisation du texte, etc) tant dans leurs aspects « techniques » que dans les manifestations de l'impact culturel sur celles-ci (harmonie, hiérarchie, politesse, face, superstitions). Après avoir exposé de manière détaillée les différences parfois insoupçonnées et d'autant plus « dangereuses » (puisque les malentendus résultent souvent de l'innocence culturelle), nous avons opté pour les approches communicatives qui nous paraissent plus propices à la transmission culturelle. Nos propositions didactiques tendent donc à l'introduction de cette méthodologie de manière plus appropriée au milieu taiwanais, tout en développant les quatre compétences langagières en vue de l'ouverture et de la communication interculturelles. Leur but sera enfin de former un apprenant autonome, capable d'utiliser avec profit les notions que nous lui aurons inculquées. //Teaching French as a Foreign Language in the Taiwanese Educational System: Linguistic and Praxeologic Analysis. As a student in French Literature and teacher of French Foreign Language in Taiwan, and during the preparation of the Ph. D. in the french speaking part of Belgium, I could ascertain the gaps in the taiwanese educational system. This twofold experience was the incentive to my choice of this sujbect. From noticing the narrow interdependence between language and culture, arose the necessity to ponder about the Chinese cultural concepts (coming from Confucianism, Taoïsm and Buddhism) and to explain them to my french fellowteachers, who wondered why their elsewhere well tried methods sometimes met unfavourable issues. This lead me up to study the contrast between french and chinese languages (graphic and phonetic systems, morphosyntax, text organization, aso.) in their ‘technical' aspects as well as in the cultural impact on them (harmony, hierarchy, politeness, face, superstitions). After a detailed explanation of the pointed differences - sometimes all the more dangerous for being unsuspected (as misunderstanding very often results of cultural innocence)-, I chosed the communicative approaches which seem to fit better cultural transference. Our didactic proposals aim thus at introducing this methodology, better adjusted to the Taiwanese milieu, as well at improving the four language skills keeping in sight the cultural open mind and communication. Last but not least, their objective will be to mould autonomous learners, able to turn the notions we taught them into the best account.