Through this research study my aim was to critically examine the ways in which multimodal, autoethnographic art can enhance and expand educational experiences in general education art classrooms. The study investigates how participants’ perceptions of self and others within culture transform over a semester-long qualitative arts-based study. The study’s goal was to uncover teaching and learning strategies that help to disrupt traditional academic boundaries using autoethnography to create an engaged, cooperative university classroom environment. The participants for this study included 77 students in a general education art and culture course and myself as the co-teacher and researcher. Autoethnographic data were collected throughout the course in the forms of art research journals, pre-and post course questionnaires, researcher field notes, recorded class discussions, on-line discussion boards, notes from one-on-one student/researcher communications and field notes from participants’ final multimodal, autoethnographic art pieces and presentations. The methods used for the study were a modified version of arts-based and grounded theoretical research models. A heavy emphasis was placed on the participants art-making and sharing their work with others in the study. The findings from the study indicated most of, many of participants experienced advancement in their understanding of self within culture and developments of new insights into the experiences and perceptions of others in the study. Results from the study confirm a steady growth in participant engagement and development of cooperative class environment throughout the semester. This study contributes to existing scholarship on the generation of new knowledge from arts-based research models, multimodal autoethnograpy as method, teacher/student relationships in academia, and risk-taking in teacher professional development. The findings from the study might provide support and encouragement for meaningful discussions about the significance of exploring self through art making and art sharing in academic settings. By highlighting the achievements of the use of autoethnography as a method of inquiry, this study will add to the larger discussion of teacher and student identity in art education classrooms.

The study is based in critical issues in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) as second or additional language and informed by Critical Pedagogy (CP), the study uses thematic discourse analysis through critical analysis techniques. The main focus of this research is to explore the extent of intercultural understanding and perceptions of the English Language Teachers (ELTs) towards students in their culturally heterogeneous ELT classrooms about certain academic behaviours, namely plagiarism (Academic Integrity) and learners’ classroom participation and relationship of these academic tasks to the cultural orientation of English Language Learners (ELLs) in ELT classrooms in the Canadian context. Participating ELTs teach adult students of color and ethnic diversity in different English language teaching situations and come both from across Canada, at the macro level (Stage 1-survey questionnaire), and from Nova Scotia, at the micro level (Stage 2-focus group discussions). The thesis also demonstrates factors that may contribute to Canadian ELTs’ perceptions about the issue of understanding non-white and racially non-main stream ELLs. The thesis aims at bringing attention to the need for a collaboratively developed Professional Development (PD) training component focused on intercultural understanding from a critical perspective, for the ELTs in the Canadian context. It is expected that the findings will gain some traction among the ELT community, especially in the Canadian context and will contribute to highlighting the importance of understanding of cultural differences and inclusion of this understating in the continuous professional development of English language teachers.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study aims to investigate academic writing at the University of Namibia and intends to explore whether a critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy in EAP that enhances voice and agency in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) can be engendered in the Namibian EAP classroom. Moreover, it aims to investigate the experiences and perceptions of first year EAP students regarding the current EAP pedagogy at the University of Namibia. The study aspires to generate an understanding of the components students find difficult when they engage in academic essay writing. It provides a holistic and profound understanding of what critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy is and wish to propose the process-genre writing approach as tool to a critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy to teaching academic writing. The study draws it theoretical underpinning from critical pedagogy as postulated by Freire (1973) and Canagarajah (1999). This research supports the premise that the English language classroom is a cultural space where various agendas are negotiated and contested and explores the complexity of language pedagogy in the English classroom (Canagarajah, 1999). Moreover, this study is based on the premise that pedagogies are not received in their own terms but are rather appropriated on different levels in terms of the needs, interests and values of the local communities (Canagarajah, 1999, p.121-2). As research design, the study adopts an exploratory design using both qualitative and quantitative data. Besides, the study uses SPSS analysis and written error analysis methodologies. While the former provides an understanding of EAP students' perceptions and experiences regarding the current EAP pedagogy at the University of Namibia, the latter examines the components that EAP students find difficult when they engage in academic essay writing. As instruments, the study uses a semi-structured questionnaire and academic essay administered to 200 EAP first year student- participants. The findings indicate that the current EAP pedagogy at the University of Namibia does not promote experiential, meaningful and critical learning nor does it enhance voice and agency in the EAP classroom, thus a critical, meaningful and experiential EAP pedagogy that enhances voice and agency can be engendered in the Namibian EAP classroom. The findings also indicate that EAP students find the use of APA referencing skills and the use of discourse markers the most difficult when they engage in academic essay writing. Furthermore, the literature that I reviewed for this study critically exposed how practices in EAP and institutional policies stifle voice and agency in the EAP classroom. The entire process of this study has generated some insights that can advance our understanding of a critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy in EAP and academic writing. These insights are: (1) A need to enhance EAP educator’s critical awareness, (2) We must minimize students' text-appropriation, (3)A need to re-conceptualize and decriminalize the concept of plagiarism in EAP, (4) A new approach to teaching APA referencing in EAP academic writing, (5) A need to renegotiate voice and agency in academic writing, (6) Writing is a process not an event, (7) We need to move towards an appropriate critical, meaningful and experiential pedagogy in EAP. The study proposes the process-genre academic writing approach as pedagogy towards a critical, meaningful and experiential EAP pedagogy in teaching academic writing. All in all, the study upholds the premise that a critical, meaningful and experiential EAP pedagogy that enhances voice and agency can be engendered in the Namibian EAP classroom.

Critical pedagogy is a philosophy of education developed to challenge forms of social oppression through the acquisition of agency, what advocates argue traditional teaching methods fail to accomplish. It is because of this and because writing is considered by many to be a gateway to learning that critical pedagogy as a teaching methodology in composition studies is a logical alternative to traditional theories guiding composition pedagogy today. Critical pedagogy is meant to help students gain the tools needed to become active participants, influencers, and decision-makers in society. This paper argues for the need for critical composition pedagogy in present times as well as attempts to mold critical pedagogical theory into reliable praxis for first-year composition (FYC) instructors, while also meeting the goals of FYC as established by the Council of Writing Program Administrators (the WPA). The ultimate goal in providing a model for critical composition pedagogy is not to provide a different vision than that of other critical composition pedagogues, but an alternative.

There is a dearth of knowledge on rural South African children’s perspectives of hope, and how their hope can be nurtured, shaped, and strengthened. Guided by a qualitative approach, and located within a critical transformative paradigm, this study explores the following research question: How could visual participatory methodology as ‘research as intervention’ enable rural South African primary school children to explore their conceptualisations of hope, as well as strengthen their hope? To answer this question I pose two sub-questions: Firstly, what are rural primary school children’s conceptualisations of hope? Secondly, how could using visual participatory methodology to explore their hope also strengthen the children’s hope? Hope plays a key role in the lives of people, influencing decisions and behaviour, as well as coping skills and wellbeing. The socio-economic and cultural contexts in which rural South African children find themselves are critical in enabling hope and influencing their psychosocial wellbeing. While international hope research boasts a diversity of theories, there is scarce representation of such research from an African perspective. Unable to turn to an Afrocentric theory of hope this study is framed by two theories from the global-North: Scioli’s (2007) Integrative theory of hope which provides a description of the individual’s hope process, and Prilleltensky and Prilleltensky’s (2007) Framework of psychosocial wellbeing which provides a broader context in which to view this process. Over a period of a year I engaged with twelve purposively selected 9-13 year old Basotho children, beneficiaries of a children’s programme situated in a rural village in the QwaQwa region, Free State, South Africa, to explore their hope. Using visual participatory methodology, data was co-constructed through four visual data generating tools (collage-making, drawing, Mmogo-method®, and photovoice), as well as individual interviews, a group interview, and notes and photographs kept in my research journal. A qualitative thematic analysis was followed, and a literature control conducted to re-contextualise the findings. The results of this study are presented in themes. The first three themes, Hope is having a better life; Hope is community participation and togetherness; and Hope is weakened by others and by one’s environment, combine to represent hope as a multi-layered, multi-dimensional experience towards attaining a better life on a contextual, personal, relational, and collective level. These levels of hope are all inter-related, interdependent, and influenced by cultural factors and the children’s belief system (or worldview). I therefore conclude that, according to these rural South African school children, hope is an internal process of being that develops within the individual, with assistance from external resources, and then extends outwardly through hopeful beliefs, feelings, and behaviours to promote togetherness, care, and respect in one’s community. The last three themes, Strengthened personal hope; Enhanced relational hope; and Mobilised collective hope, show that using visual participatory methodology to engage the participants in an exploration of hope potentially strengthened, enhanced, and mobilised their hope across three inter-related and overlapping levels: Personal, Relational, and Collective. The participants expressed a growing understanding of their hoping process, increased sense of autonomy, and improved coping skills for strengthening their own hope. They also began to refer to themselves as Hope Champions - able to foster hope in others by behaving in a hopeful manner, teaching others about hope, and offering care and support. I therefore conclude that this shifting view of themselves as competent and valuable members of the community mobilised their collective level of hope as they began to formulate ideas of how they could be active citizens in their community, pursuing collective wellbeing for themselves and other members of the community so that everyone could live a better life. The findings have several implications for educational psychologists working with marginalised and vulnerable children’s hope, for fostering hope in school contexts, and for educational hope research with marginalised children in rural South African communities. While this study cannot presume to have achieved long-term social change, it does certainly lay the foundation for proposing that ‘research as intervention’ has promising potential as ‘research as hope-intervention’ in educational contexts. In responding to the research question, I argue that visual participatory research methodology, when focused on hope, is in and of itself a hope-enhancing intervention. Consequently, combining visual participatory methodology with hope-focused explorations enables ‘research as hope-intervention’, facilitating a strengthening of the participants’ hope, and resulting in meaningful personal transformation. I conclude that using ‘research as hope-intervention’ with rural South African children holds many possibilities for mobilising a ‘pedagogy of hope’.

This study investigates the possible effects that construction play (in the forms of guided play and guided play with exploratory talk) using the ‘6 Bricks’ approach has on the development of learners’ visual perception and reasoning abilities. The intervention, which aimed at developing visual perception, required the participating teachers to use the ‘6 Bricks’ approach three times a week over a period of six months. The sub-set of teachers in the intervention group who were also expected to facilitate discussion to promote reasoning abilities were tasked with additional ‘6 Bricks with exploratory talk’ activities once a week spread over ten weeks during the intervention period. The study followed an explanatory sequential mixed-method design with pre-post-testing using comparison and experimental groups to generate both quantitative and qualitative data. The sample included Grade 2 teachers and their learners in five purposively selected schools in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Quantitative data were generated via pre-post-analysis of two tests, namely, the Visual Perceptual Aspects Test (VPAT) and Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) test. Statistically significant improvements were found in the experimental group’s pooled VPAT subtest scores as opposed to only three for the comparison group’s VPAT subtest scores. Statistically significant improvements in mean scores were achieved by some schools in the exploratory talk experimental group for the RCPM test. Qualitative data, obtained from teacher record sheets, researcher’s observations and semi-structured, open-ended teacher interviews were triangulated against the quantitative data. The findings, when considered in light of the literature, suggest that the ‘6 Bricks’ approach can contribute to the development of learners’ visual perception. In the instances when using the ‘6 Bricks’ approach with exploratory talk was implemented successfully, improvements in learners’ reasoning abilities were observed.

This research explores literacy as a medium for deepening student's awareness of their world and the impact of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). Standardized testing is analyzed as a fundamental paradigm to our school culture. Ethnography is explored as a method for describing one group of students and their teacher as they prepare for the OSSLT. The findings conclude that the test occupies time, dominates definitions of literacy and undermines student and teacher agency. The conclusion considers reasons for why we seem to accept a testing paradigm that may be a direct affront to democratic practice in schools.

Orientador: César Apareciddo Nunes / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T13:15:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vaz_FabianaMarquesJeremiasLeite_D.pdf: 1375260 bytes, checksum: 90debdd98e5f046b408a221a95974e0d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: Trata-se de uma pesquisa bibliográfica e histórica da formação teórico-prática do Designer na tradição institucional, profissional e acadêmica na Modernidade e no Brasil, a partir do método materialista histórico e dialético de compreensão da realidade. Debate a atualidade da Pedagogia Histórico-Crítica e sua potencialidade como referencial teórico-metodológico a ser apropriado na área de pesquisa e de formação do Designer. Apresenta os movimentos e ideias de uma conjuntura de absorção e de representação social de novos direitos civis e de novos sujeitos sociais no Brasil. Articula esse bloco histórico com a formação e os condicionantes filosóficos, epistemológicos e políticos da sociedade civil brasileira recente. Aponta elementos pedagógicos e filosóficos que materializam a possibilidade de uma estética emancipatória na prática social do Designer / Abstract: t is a bibliographical and historical research of theoretical and practical training of Information in the institutional tradition, professional and academic in Modernity and Brazil from the historical and dialectical materialist method of interpreting reality . Debate the relevance of the Historical- Critical Pedagogy and its potential as a theoretical and methodological framework to be appropriate in the area of ??research and training of Information . It presents the movements and ideas in a climate of absorption and social representation of new civil rights and new social subjects in Brazil. Articulates this historical bloc with the formation and philosophical constraints , epistemological and political aspects of recent Brazilian civil society. Points pedagogical and philosophical elements that materialize the possibility of an emancipatory social practice aesthetics in the Designer / Doutorado / Filosofia e História da Educação / Doutora em Educação

By analyzing two radical history walking tours in Seattle, WA, and Berkeley, CA, this thesis aims to examine how Asian American communities can find their places in the U.S. environmental movement. I argue that these walking tours provide generative pedagogical tools to engage the general public to unpack the complex Asian American history embedded within urban spaces. I also articulate how these walking tours have the capacity to situate environmental struggles and activism within urban spaces, illustrating that various Asian American social and political activism has always been addressing environmental concerns. Furthermore, I argue that these walking tours of Asian American cultural landscapes enable us to recognize the long history of cross-ethnic organizing in Asian American activist movements. Lastly, I advocate for an Asian American environmental movement that incorporates a decolonial/indigenous framework, which could allow all marginalized communities to envision more just practices of spatial organizing and land use in the future.

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the state of critical information literacy (CIL) in higher education as it is enacted and understood by academic librarians. This qualitative study investigated the institutional support, nonsupport, and barriers to CIL programs and the effectiveness of experiential critical pedagogy for information literacy (IL) learning as taught and studied by 19 CIL specialists. Purposeful sampling was used to gather a sample of 17 academic librarians and two professors of library and information science who had previously worked as academic librarians. The sample included 11 females and eight males; 18 participants were Caucasian and one was African American. Data were collected through 40-60 minute semi-structured interviews and a brief demographic survey. Experiential education served as the broad theoretical framework for this study, which stems from the tradition of critical theory. This study was guided by the work of two major experiential learning theorists and theories: Paulo Freire and critical pedagogy and Jack Mezirow and transformative learning. Mezirow and Freire focused their work on adult education and grounded their approaches in critical theory and focused on power relationships, reflection, and the emancipatory potential of education. The findings were framed through a lens of Freire’s conception of critical pedagogy because it was the major theoretical framework that most of the study participants used to guide their work. Findings suggest that academic librarians who teach CIL do not learn about it in their MLS programs. They tend to use three major critical teaching methods, including student-centered approaches, discussion and dialogue, and problem-posing methods. Participants tended to struggle more with using critical methods than with incorporating critical content. Slightly more than half regularly used critical methods in their teaching, but all participants incorporated critical content, including critical source evaluation and subject headings and language used in information production and dissemination. The findings also suggest that CIL specialists are likely to believe that CIL is best taught within the broader context of academic disciplines and that strong relationships with faculty are crucial for successfully implementing information literacy programs of any kind, including CIL programs. Most participants felt supported by their library administrators and at least minimally by college or university administrators, even though they thought administrators did not have a clear idea of what they do in the classroom. The professional identity and culture of librarians and librarianship played a large role in whether and how librarians were drawn to CIL and in their ability to practice it. The results of this study will allow librarians and educators to make more informed decisions about how to design, teach, and implement programs and will benefit library science scholars and policy makers in terms of knowing how it is being taught and supported at the institutional level.