The study was conducted to investigate Taiwanese junior high school students’ perceptions of their teachers’ teaching styles and the students’ own use of learning strategies and to determine if there was a significant relationship between perceived teaching style and learning strategy use. The data for this study were gathered from a sample of 95 junior high school students enrolled in four Chinese language classes at Yuanlin Junior high school. The students completed the Junior High School Teacher’s Teaching Style Questionnaire and the Taiwanese version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. The findings from this study led to the following conclusions: (1) the students preferred to use learning strategies that enabled them to use time well and choose environments conducive to learning. Moreover, they preferred to seek assistance from their teachers or classmates when encountering learning difficulties; (2) gender differences in learning strategy use were not significant. Among nine learning strategies, male and female students both exhibited more use of strategies for Effort Management, Help-seeking, and Time and Study Management; (3) the dominant teaching style, as perceived by the students, was indifference; (4) the results revealed that there were no significant relationships between students’ perceptions of teaching styles and learning strategy use.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Education, June 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas at Dallas, 2006 / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134)

This study compared the findings from the literature review in the area of schools as professional learning communities, using specifically Toole and Louis’ (2002) definition of a professional learning community, with the perceptions of twelve Manitoba school principals of the normative imperative to develop their schools as professional learning communities and their perceptions of the reality of administrative practice. Toole and Louis propose that a professional learning community is a concept composed of three interdependent domains, namely a school culture that emphasizes professionalism is client centered and knowledge based, additionally it emphasizes learning by placing a high value on teacher inquiry and reflection, and finally it is communitarian insofar as it emphasizes personal connections. Furthermore, this definition is built on the notion that there are preconditions, structural supports and human and social resources, necessary for professional learning communities. Grounded theory served as both the theoretical structure and research design to gain an understanding of principals’ thinking (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). principals participated in this study in two focus groups (six principals in each focus group), and twelve interviews. Each focus group and interview was transcribed, and content analysis was employed to identify commonalities and differences in the data (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2003). Using open, axial, and selective coding eight themes were identified based on the responses to the research questions (Johnson & Christensen, 2004; Strauss & Corbin, 1990). This study revealed some consistency between the information cited in the literature, with specific focus on Toole and Louis’ (2002) definition, and principals’ perceptions of their schools as professional learning communities. The participants perceived of a professional learning community as being comprised of three interdependent domains, which are professional, learning and community, and as requiring necessary structural supports and human and social resources as preconditions. They identified time, teacher empowerment, interconnected teacher roles, school plans and institutional identity as structural supports. They also viewed trust and respect, and supportive principal leadership as human and social resource preconditions for schools striving to become professional learning communities. The study revealed conflict between the beliefs of the principals and conceptions of professional learning communities as theoretically constructed in the literature. The participants perceived that while a professional learning community is multidimensional, its effectiveness is not necessarily tied to measures of student achievement. There appeared to be few differences between the participants’ perceptions when separated by gender, school type (public or private) and school size (small, medium or large). The participants appeared to have limited notions of professional learning communities and as a result it is hard to make a case that professional learning communities exist in these schools. Additionally, they saw the duty to evaluate teachers as fostering the development of a professional learning community. Finally, while professional learning communities may hold the best promise for sustaining school improvement efforts (Hord, 2004), the efforts associated with nurturing one will lack results if principals do not possess the clarity of what is required for a school to become a professional learning community. / October 2007

Pupil control ideology

Representational systems

Effect of reciprocal inhibition therapy

In this study, the researcher has attempted to ascertain what counts as legitimate restrictions by the employer on the free speech rights of Canadian public school teachers from the perspectives of employment law and constitutional law. In the employment context, school boards may restrict: dishonest speech which undermines trust, uncooperative speech which interferes with effectiveness and efficiency or which is abusive, disloyal speech which unjustifiably harms school boards' legitimate business interests, and disobedient speech which defies employers' authority. In other circumstances, however, employment law recognizes and protects teacher expression in spite of teachers' employment duties. Thus, employers are not allowed to interdict: speech solely because it is idiosyncratic or unconventional, appropriate banter with students, teachers who criticize their employers for illegal and negligent behaviour, and direct and forthright speech in the collective bargaining context. Under employment law, it is still unclear whether teachers can speak out responsibly on matters of public interest without violating their duty of loyalty or whether teachers can exercise some degree of academic freedom without undermining their duty of obedience. In both cases, the researcher argues for increased protection. First, as professionals, teachers possess expertise and a relevant insiders' perspective which have the potential to inform debate on issues of public concern. Second, as educators, teachers are called to prepare our students for citizenship in our democracy by teaching them how to think critically. Under constitutional law, and generally speaking, the Charter is unlikely to alter the employment law analysis and corresponding protection of teachers' expressive rights for three main reasons. First, adjudicators are likely to adopt a reasonableness-based approach to s.1 analysis based on the Supreme Court of Canada's landmark decision in Ross v. New Brunswick School District No. 15 (1996)--the leading judgment on teachers' free speech rights under the Charter. Second, when governments act as both employer and state agent, as opposed to state agent alone, adjudicators will be more inclined to accept employer arguments based on pragmatic and utilitarian considerations, like efficiency and effectiveness, as constituting reasonable grounds for restricting teachers' speech. Third, adjudicators will examine the nature of teacher expression to determine whether it advances the core values underlying s.2(b) expression: pursuit of truth, political participation, and self-fulfillment/autonomy. As a general rule, one can argue that dishonest, uncooperative, disloyal, and disobedient expression are unlikely to implicate core Charter values. Yet, the Charter does have the potential to enhance protection of teachers' free speech rights in two particular areas. First, the Charter may change the analysis when teachers speak out on issues of public concern in a reasonable and controlled way. Second, the Charter may make a difference when teachers attempt to exercise some measure of academic freedom in a professionally responsible manner. In the first scenario, political speech is at stake. In the second scenario, the search for truth (and to a diminished degree political participation self-fulfillment/autonomy) is involved. In both cases, fundamental core Charter values are at issue. Hence, adjudicators may require employers to demonstrate a higher standard of justification, in these specific circumstances, before they accept arguments limiting teachers' freedom of expression. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Inaug.-diss.--Tübingen. / Lebens- und bildungsgang. "Literaturverzeichnis": p. 100-102.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1915. / "Published as no. 91 of the Psychological monographs." Bibliography: p. [1] at end.