Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1928. / Vita. Published also as Teachers college, Columbia university, Contributions to education, no. 311. Bibliography: p. 89-95.

Thesis (PH. D.)--Columbia university, 1928. / Vita. Published also as Teachers college, Columbia university, Contributions to education, no. 311. Bibliography: p. 89-95.

This research enquiry explores the life-history narratives of three Pakistani female expatriate tertiary-level English language teachers at Gulf Coeducational University (GCU). The study was conducted in order to investigate the participants’ journeys as learners and how they perceive themselves as teachers. The historical, educational, and linguistic background of Pakistan is provided along with an overview of GCU, where all the participants presently teach. Harré’s conception of personhood (1983) is related to the identity formation of the participants. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital in society (1986, 2001), applied to the hierarchical status of languages in Pakistan (Rahman, 2004a; Mansoor, 2004), serves as a theoretical framework. A discussion of what Pakistani identity may entail, with emphasis on the significance of language on cultural identity, is given. Narrative research methodology is utilised (Clandinin and Connelly, 1996, 2000), to conduct three in-depth semi-structured interviews with the participants. Emerging themes are explored and research findings discussed with reference to relevant literature. The significance of their cultural capital, experiences of teacher-centred approaches in Pakistan and abroad, and the gender-based constraints the participants experienced during their educational trajectories are analysed. The implications of the study: for professional development, teacher training programmes and for the internationalisation of education can be explored in further research.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1982.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 73-74)

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1982. / Also available in print.

Set against a changing backdrop of reforms in higher education and English language teaching (ELT), the thesis explores the notion of professionalism for university English teachers in Vietnam: What is defined as professionalism in this particular period of time? How is professionalism constructed in this context? The research approaches professionalism as a critical concept: A list of aspired traits and features are always value-laden and concern the question of power. From this premise, the thesis discusses a “kaleidoscope” relationship between different actors in the making of professionalism. Using Freidson’s (2001) ideas on the contingencies of professionalism, the study views the notion as a process rather than a product. Professionalism has its own logic that needs to be respected, but this logic is also incidental to other logics for its establishment and development. The study uses embedded case study to address its research questions. Defining the case as professionalism for university ELT teachers in contemporary Vietnam higher education, the thesis studies the notion as articulated at national, institutional, and individual levels. The primary data sources include five national policies, institutional policies and management practices at a university and its foreign languages department, and interviews with six academic managers and eleven ELT lecturers. The data were analysed using thematic analysis approach within constructivist, interpretive traditions. The results show that professionalism for ELT lecturers in Vietnam can largely be characterised as a professionalism of entrepreneurship, measurability and functionality. ELT is largely considered as a tool for international integration. Each type of professionalism project involves several actors (the state, expert groups, the institution, and ELT academics) with their own logic, but they interrelate in responding to the imperatives of the knowledge-based economy and globalisation. How the meaning of professionalism is established and argued for by the different actors in this study reveals that it is not easy to conceptualise the notion in a binary system of “from above” professionalism versus “from within” professionalism; and “organisational” professionalism versus “occupational” professionalism. The complexities of the logics of professionalism – with an ”s”, affect whether a professionalisation project can be perceived as being positive or negative – Is it professionalisation or is it deprofessionalisation? The relativity of “from above” and “from within” reflects the contingencies of professionalism, and also suggests authority power is plural, shifting, and fluid, rather than single, normative, and static. Meanwhile, it means human’s individual power is not of an ultimate freedom but dependent on external conditions. With these considerations, the study proposes interpreting professionalism as a ”social contract”. This helps not only recognise a mutual relationship between the state, the institution, and academics, but also illuminate how each party enables, maintains, and contributes to this relationship.

The thesis explores the place of culture in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). The study originally set out to investigate the ways in which teachers understand culture and deal with it in their teaching of English. A survey of teachers found that while the teachers had sophisticated understandings about culture and its relationship with language at a general level, they did not have clear understandings about how cultural teaching can be enacted in the classroom. This conundrum was also evident in the literature on teaching culture in TESOL. An extensive survey of the literature found that while there are a number of different perspectives on how culture can be understood and dealt with in TESOL, none of these provide a comprehensive basis for the understandings teachers need for the practicalities of teaching. The focus of the study shifted from an investigation of professional development to the articulation of a conceptual framework to inform teachers in the way they can manage the teaching of culture. The framework draws on some significant insights of one of the perspectives in the literature, Intercultural Language Teaching, as well as some insights from other perspectives. The framework identifies dimensions in which teachers need to understand how culture can be manifest and managed in TESOL. For each dimension a number of factors on which decisions need to be made are identified. The framework also identifies a number of principles to guide teachers in their decision-making about the teaching culture. The potential of the framework to inform the teaching of English to adult immigrants in Australia, as well as students studying English in a university in Vietnam is explored. The capacity of the framework to inform TESOL teacher education, research and theory building is also evaluated.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Faculty of Education, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-254).

Thesis (DAppLing)--Macquarie University, Faculty of Human Sciences, Department of Linguistics, 2009. / Bibliography: p. 167-188.