There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of English

Despite calls for better training of college composition teachers utilizing computer-assisted writing instruction (CAWI), English departments have only recently begun to systematically address the faculty development needs of these teachers. Other fields such as adult education and staff development have begun applying theory and research to faculty development efforts, but CAWI proponents have yet to attain that depth of study and commitment.By investigating methods and characteristics of CAWI faculty development programs, this study found that academic-year workshops were the most common development activity, although teachers preferred personal, collaborative approaches like mentors, consultants, and discussion groups. These patterns were consistent across types of colleges and universities, indicating general context descriptors like institutional size and mission did not significantly influence or limit faculty development practices. This discrepancy between preferred and offered programs indicates faculty needs are not being met, and offers potential reasons for a lack of satisfaction with CAWI faculty development and administration.Faculty respondents identified adequate time and funding as the most important contributors to the success of CAWI faculty development, noting that faculty support-particularly the personalized attention teachers prefer-is time-intensive and requires extensive commitment from those providing the services. These time concerns reflect staffing patterns: CAWI administrative duties were added to the workload of current departmental administrators just over half of the time, and CAWI support duties were assigned to current administrators over onethird of the time. These support duties were assigned to non-tenure-line personnel over one-quarter of the time, a practice that raises questions about authority and credibility needed to administer faculty development programs.Despite a relative lack of concern among faculty, evaluation and reward systems play an important long-term role in CAWI support. Current structures do not adequately recognize and reward CAWI-related scholarship and service, including faculty development work. Applying Boyer and Glassick's expanded concepts of scholarship might prove useful in improving and professionalizing CAWI faculty development efforts, thereby helping secure scholarly identity for CAWI and its support activities. / Department of English

Mythology is a consistent part of the high school English language arts school curriculum dating back well beyond the last forty years. High school English teachers‘ beliefs about mythology, student engagement, and educational policy demonstrate the rationale and dynamic of this longevity. This study explores the development and elements of myth, asserting the importance of approaching myth through critical cultural studies generally, and in high school English arts classrooms specifically. Drawing upon a variety of cultural sources (i.e. sacred narrative, children‘s television, cable news television, literature, movies, music, and the internet); theorists (from Levi-Strauss‘s structuralism through the post-structuralism of Barthes, Anzuldua, and Maya Derrin); and methodologies (content analysis of murals, news excerpts, teacher footage on video literary analysis, and autoethnography) this study presents a critical cultural studies exploration of myth and myth studies. After deconstructing and applying Levi-Strauss‘ notion of Bricolage to a wide variety of contexts, I conclude that myth is based in all sorts of individual and collective human movement. And this movement gives rise to myth which can be characterized as political, spiritual inter-textual, performative and hybrid. I further conclude that a critical cultural studies approach to myth attends to student engagement, anticipates 21st century learning frameworks, and offers possible consideration of interfaith education in schools.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Australian Centre for Educational Studies, School of Education, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 159-177.

Thesis (DAppLing)--Macquarie University, Division of Linguistics and Psychology, Dept. of Linguistics, 2009. / "December 2008". Bibliography: p. 299-327.

Listening comprehension strategies have been explored almost exclusively in uni-directional listening when learners are listening to audio recording. The lack of research on students' strategy use in understanding the teacher in the classroom is surprising, given how pervasive it is for students to listen to the teacher. In order to fill this research gap, this study explored the listening strategies adopted by learners in comprehending the teacher's input in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom in Hong Kong (HK). A Likert-scale questionnaire was developed and administered to 867 HK Secondary 3 students, 646 of whom also completed two tests of linguistic knowledge (LK) - a receptive Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) and a grammaticality judgement task (GJT). A sub-sample of 59 students then took part in an innovative computer tracking programme which simulated classroom learning and incorporated different types of teacher input while eliciting learners' strategy use targeted at these inputs. Lesson observation and stimulated recall interviews were also conducted to give insight into learners' strategy use in an authentic lesson from a more qualitative point of view. Findings suggested that there were some strategies which were specific to the context of listening to the teacher in the ESL classroom. Furthermore, while learners with low and high LK demonstrated some differences in their strategy use, there existed a sub-group of learners with low LK who were at least comparably strategic with learners with higher LK, providing some evidence that strategy use is not wholly dependent on levels of LK. Finally, findings also pointed to the importance of the type and difficulty of teacher input on learners' strategy use. Implications for further research and pedagogy are discussed.

[pt] O objetivo da pesquisa apresentada neste trabalho é buscar entender as trajetórias identitárias de duas professoras de inglês através da análise das narrativas nas quais elas (re)constroem suas histórias de vida profissional. Esta pesquisa está alinhada à Linguística Aplicada e à Linguística Aplicada Crítica que, através de posicionamentos críticos e reflexivos, buscam a reinvenção da vida social e novas formas de produção de conhecimento. Com base na metodologia qualitativa e interpretativista de pesquisa, os dados foram gerados a partir de conversas participativas de pesquisa entre a pesquisadora e as duas professoras. As professoras escolheram os recortes dos dados que consideraram mais relevantes para serem incluídos e analisados na pesquisa, o que fomentou uma prática reflexiva, investigativa e crítica em busca de momentos de aprofundamento de entendimentos. Conduziu-se uma microanálise das narrativas das professoras a partir dos estudos de Labov e dos princípios de coerência e causalidade, especificamente no sistema do senso comum, visando delinear a socioconstrução das escolhas profissionais das participantes. A discussão aponta para o entendimento de que as trajetórias pelas quais construímos nossas histórias de vida não são necessariamente lineares e indica que a principal contribuição desta pesquisa está em propor formas solidárias, inovadoras, híbridas e colaborativas de trabalho entre os participantes da pesquisa. / [en] The objective of the present research is to understand the identity construction of two English teachers as they (re)construct their professional life stories. Within the theoretical framework of Applied Linguistics and Critical Applied Linguistics, this study aims at searching, critically and reflectively, for a reinvention of social life and of forms of knowledge production. Based on a qualitative and interpretive research methodology, the data were generated during participatory research conversations that involved the researcher and the two teachers. The teachers themselves selected the parts of the data that they considered more relevant to be to be included and analyzed in this research, thus fostering a reflexive, investigative, and critical practice that pursued moments of deeper understandings. A micro-analysis of the narratives, based on Labov s studies and on Linde s coherence and causality principles, more precisely on this author s common sense system, yielded understandings on how professional choice is socially constructed. The discussion points towards the understanding that the trajectories through which we build our life stories are not necessarily linear and suggests that the main contribution of the present research lies in the proposal of a more innovative, cooperative and hybrid form of work among research participants.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T16:15:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Maria Ialago.pdf: 920628 bytes, checksum: 77b04efd2336899017357d4c51d1d74d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-12-12 / This research aimed at investigating the social representations of a group of English teachers from a language school about their professional identity, their learning processes for education and their pedagogical knowledge. The theoretical foundations for this study were the concepts of social representations (Serge Moscovici and Denise Jodelet) and of dialogicality (Mikhail Bakhtin and Ivana Marková). It presented considerations on historical, social and economic factors which brought about the current representations that the study subjects have about the English language as well as about its teaching and learning processes. The data were collected through two questionnaires and analyzed using the lexical software ALCESTE. The results revealed that the participants view the fluency in the language as central to their identity as professionals and that daily practice is considered more important than academic experience. A lack of reflection upon social issues related to their pedagogical practices was also observed. The intended contribution of this study was a deeper understanding of English teachers representations about the language itself and its teaching processes, as well as about their roles as professionals, so as to provide some reflections on the current politics and practices of initial and continuing education programs for foreign language teachers.(AU) / Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar as representações sociais de um grupo de professores de inglês em curso livre a respeito de sua identidade profissional, seus processos formativos e seus saberes docentes. A fundamentação teórica do estudo baseou-se nos conceitos de representação social (Serge Moscovici e Denise Jodelet) e de dialogicidade (Mikhail Bakhtin e Ivana Marková). Foram realizadas considerações a respeito de fatores históricos, sociais e econômicos que originaram as atuais representações que os sujeitos do estudo têm a respeito do idioma bem como dos processos de ensino e aprendizagem do mesmo. Os dados foram coletados através de dois questionários e analisados com os recursos de um software para análise lexical, o ALCESTE. Os resultados revelaram que os participantes consideram a fluência no idioma como central para sua identidade profissional e a experiência em sala de aula como mais importante do que a vivência acadêmica. A falta de reflexão acerca de aspectos sociais relacionados à sua prática pedagógica também foi observada. A contribuição pretendida por este estudo foi uma melhor compreensão das representações de professores de inglês a respeito do idioma e dos processos de ensino e aprendizagem do mesmo, bem como de seu papel profissional, de forma a oferecer algumas reflexões sobre as políticas e práticas atuais relacionadas à formação inicial e continuada de professores de língua estrangeira.(AU)

Today, information and communication technology (ICT) is something given in the Swedish school system. This study aims to discuss how English teachers use ICT in the English classroom. Three active English teachers were interviewed about their use of ICT and the effect of ICT on pupils’ motivation. The teachers were also asked about their view on the differences in the language between school English and extramural English and if this causes any issues in the classroom. The result showed that the teachers’ views varied on all three accounts. The use of ICT varied in both frequency and way of use, mostly because of uncertainty with digital tools. When it came to ICT and motivation one teacher thought that it does affect motivation positively, but the other two disagreed as they consider computers a norm to the pupils and thus not motivating. However, they all agreed that ICT could be used to motivate pupils if used in the right way. All three teachers believed school English and extramural English were different. The use of extramural English could both help and impede the pupils’ English skills. However, the three teachers handled these differences in language differently.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-11-09Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:25:01Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 santana_acm_dr_arafcl.pdf: 898267 bytes, checksum: 0b50b4acecc764a73f485a2db3d37a8f (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Neste estudo o tema da formação continuada aparece associado à análise de necessidades, conforme a fundamentação teórica utilizada (Rodrigues e Esteves, 1993; Silva, 2000; Fusari, 1997 e Estrela, 2006). O objetivo desta pesquisa foi identificar as necessidades de formação continuada declaradas pelos gestores educacionais (diretores, vices, coordenadores pedagógicos e assistentes educacionais pedagógicos) e pelos professores de língua portuguesa e inglesa de dez escolas municipais da cidade de Araraquara e como ocorrem as iniciativas de formação continuada neste município. Os gestores foram ouvidos mediante questionário, relato de narrativas e entrevistas; o posicionamento dos professores de língua portuguesa e inglesa foi obtida através de um questionário e o posicionamento da Secretaria Municipal de Educação através de uma entrevista. A pesquisa ainda contou com um estudo da proposta pedagógica de cada unidade escolar. Conforme o relato destes gestores e professores foi possível perceber a distância entre as concepções dos idealizadores das formações representados pela Secretaria Municipal de Educação e o público alvo delas. Os resultados demonstram que as formações oferecidas não correspondem às necessidades vivenciadas por estes gestores e professores; suas concepções e dilemas não são levados em consideração ao se elaborar uma iniciativa de formação continuada / In this study the issue of teacher training appears linked to the analysis of needs as the theoretical foundation used Rodrigues and Esteves, 1993; Silva, 2000; Fusari, 1997 and Estrela, 2006. The objective of this research was to understand the needs of continuous graduation reported by educational administrators (principals, vice principals, coordinators and educational assistants ) and by Portuguese and English teachers of public schools in the city of Araraquara and how they occur as continuous graduation in this city. The principals were heard through a questionnaire, report narratives and interviews; the opinions of Portuguese and English teachers were obtained through a questionnaire and the position of the Department of Education through an interview. The research had a pedagogical study of each school. According to the story of these principals and teachers and it was possible to notice the distance between the conceptions of the creators of the formations represented by the Municipal Education and their target public. The results demonstrate that the training offered did not correspond to the needs faced by these principals and teachers; their conceptions and dilemmas are not taken into consideration when preparing an initiative for teacher training