published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

The practice of understanding by making marks is common to the disciplines of anthropology, fine art and architecture.  This thesis holds that the written word is not the only means by which theory can be produced.  Indeed, it is appropriate to the theorising of fields such as architecture and art that it should use the tools of the discipline at hand.  In this thesis I demonstrate that this is so, by way of a series of drawing projects and experiments in notation.  Sometimes a drawing might illustrate or elaborate an argument established in the text, or vice-versa.  Three key inscriptive practices are identified: notation, drawing and diagrams. The prevalence of inscriptive practices in modern Western societies allows them to become deeply ingrained as ways of thinking.  This brings me to the second component in the title of the thesis, namely the idea of the ‘thinking tool.’ By that I mean the manner in which a set of codes for drawing becomes a way of organising and understanding phenomena.  For example, an architect’s section drawing becomes a tool by which volume can be explored, whilst the plan drawing is a tool for understanding spatial relations on a more organisational level. Key to this is an understanding of Bergson’s notion of duration and Deleuze’s work on locating the diagram within the paintings of Francis Bacon. The inscriptive practice is not primarily a form of representation or mimesis, but rather a way of articulating the world, not an expression of a pre-existing thought, but a thought process in itself.  As such, the actual practice of making the mark is of utmost importance anthropologically, as it is the way in which the mark is made that organises our thoughts rather than the completed artefact.

Anxiety increase drive level and will at first lead to an increased level of performance and then, as drive level continues to rise, to a decrease in performance. There seems to be an optimal level condition for best performance. On either side of this point, performance is relatively impaired. However, nothing has been done to explore directly its relationship to critical thinking ability. The purpose of this study was to investigate that relationship.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

During these past twenty years, we witnessed some important changes in the organizational context and environment that motivate scholars and management academics to examine the topic of followership more deeply. Then, in the leadership literature, we noticed the emergence of a small but growing number of articles that are devoted to this topic and that challenge the previous conceptions of leadership. Numerous scholars developed a more contemporary conception of followership, in which they conceive the role of followers as essential to ensure the organizational performance. Consequently, as it is already the case for leadership, many management academics and practitioners recommend organizations to invest and devote part of their time and energy to the development and training of followers. In this context and in front of such recommendations, the question of desirability is addressed along this thesis. More precisely, the purpose of this work is to discuss if it is really desirable to develop followers in the perspective of followers, leaders and organizations. In order to address the research issue, the thesis is divided in two parts. The first one is based on three dominant models from the literature and specifies what we mean by followership. A personal conception of effective followership is then developed and includes two important attributes: an appropriate level of engagement and an active critical thinking. In the second part, the question of desirability is discussed in the perspective of followers, leaders and organizations. For this purpose, we gathered a wide range of information that comes from a personal survey, several theoretical concepts and other empirical data.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to probe into the effects of teaching critical thinking in Civic Education on junior high school students' critical thinking skills and critical thinking disposition. This very study adopts quasi-experimental design, and the subjects are 68 junior high school students, of whom 34 are put into the experiment group and the other 34 the control group. The experiment group is taught with the critical thinking approach in Civic Education classes while the control group is taught with the traditional teaching method. The quantity-data-collection instruments include the Critical Thinking Skills Inventory for Elementary and High School Students, the Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, and the Learning Feedback Questionnaire, which is edited by the researcher. These are used to measure whether or not teaching critical thinking in Civic Education classes achieves the teaching goal, which is to improve the students' critical thinking skills and disposition. As for the quality analysis, data collected by learning sheets, records of the discussion, the Learning Feedback Questionnaire, and the teacher's observation diary are used to record the students' change in the duration of the teaching experiment so as to examine the teaching effects. After the quantity and quality analysis, the results indicate that: 1. After the teaching experiment, the students of the experiment group have significantly better performance than the students of the control group on the items of Inference, Interpretations, and Evaluation, but not on the items of Recognition of Assumptions and Deductions. 2. After the teaching experiment, the students of the experiment group have significantly better critical thinking disposition than the students of the control group on the items of Open-mindedness and Systematicity, but not on the items of Truth-seeking, Analyticity, and Inquisitiveness. 3. According to the results of the quality analysis, it is reasonable to say that the students have made an improvement on their abilities of interpretation, inference, deductions, and evaluations as well as on their critical thinking disposition. Moreover, most of them have a positive attitude toward teaching of critical thinking. Based on the results of this very experiment on teaching critical thinking, there are some suggestions for further research: 1. The subjects should be selected from different schools in different areas. 2. The duration of experiment should be extended. 3. The model of teaching critical thinking in this study is of great worth in Civic Education in junior high school. 4. Pluralistic testing should be adopted. 5. Topics of teaching activities should be related to the teaching materials and to the students' daily life experience. 6. The learning sheets could be designed to help students focus on the issues of discussion. 7.Group discussion is a better way to help students to think. 8.Teachers should pay attention to teaching critical thinking and should undertake related research. 9.Teachers could cooperate with each other to reduce their burden.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX215643.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 326 p.; also includes graphics. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Arthur White, College of Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-244).

Thesis (MTech (Education))--Peninsula Technikon, 2003. / Word processed copy. Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-67).