Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oklahoma State University, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-285).

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The aim with this study was to explore how English as a second language can be taught in order to reach all type of students and levels. The study was carried out in a third grade class in a specific school from Sweden that works towards inclusive education and language development. The result is based on the analysis of seven observations of English lessons, two interviews and an inquiry that the students answered. Policy documents and previous research were also analyzed. Variation of the language input was a fundamental issue of all of the research results for language learning. Student activity by language use like the pupils were active by using the language: dramatizing, singing, doing rhymes, repeating, dancing, listening, guessing, reading, writing… was observed during the study. The results showed that this way of teaching leads to an activation of all students interests and motivation. Feedback and a positive environment where the student feels welcome to speak in the second language accompanied with positive response from the teacher affects the student self-confidence, which is crucial in young language learners. In conclusion, the findings of the study showed that a positive and active teaching where the students are showered with the language is the key for a level appropriate and inclusive education.

In today’s schools students enter classrooms with different experiences and knowledge level. In order to promote the development and learning of all pupils, teaching should be adapted to each pupil’s circumstances and needs. According to the Swedish school curriculum (Lgr 11) and the Education Act (2010:800) there is an emphasis to have all students reach the same academic goals and standards. However past research indicates that individual adaption tailored for the individual needs of students in English teaching is considered somewhat average. Based on Vinterek’s (2006) individualization types the aim of this study has been to examine whether and if so, in what way teachers individualize English teaching based on the varying circumstances and needs of pupils. This study also aims to identify what factors teachers’ claim affect their work with individual adaption in teaching, based on Lundgren’s (1972) and Stensmo’s (2008) frame factor theory. Based on a qualitative method with both observations and interviews, two questions have been answered: 1. In what way do three teachers work with individualize English teaching, based on the varying circumstances and needs of each pupil? 2. What factors do teachers consider affects their work with individualization in English teaching? From the outcomes of the observations and interviews the results show that the teachers do work with an individual based education tailored for the individual needs of the pupil’s. The result from this study also shows that the teachers face several difficulties with individualization in English teaching. All of the teachers claim that time and the size of the class are factors that most affect the teaching process with individualization in the classroom.

ABSTRACT This research is a Qualitative Case Study which investigates the electronic literacy practices of one English teacher and two Grade 10 English classes in a Muslim High school outside of Johannesburg. This study seeks to find out what the forms of electronic literacy used in the classroom are and for what purposes these are used. It is also aimed at investigating how the students in the English classroom engage with these forms of electronic literacies and whether or not gender plays a role in their engagement. This study draws on work in New Literacy Studies, particularly theories of literacy as social practice, Multiliteracies and multimodality as well as current research in the field of electronic literacy. Although there have been numerous studies in the fields of electronic literacy and digital literacy in developed contexts like the United Kingdom and Australia, there is a paucity of research in South Africa in the field and particularly in the area of electronic literacy in the English classroom. The main sources of data were: classroom observations from which field notes were created and group interviews with the students as well as an interview with the English teacher. The findings of this study reveal that being electronically literate in the English classroom means having access to sophisticated forms of technology not only inside the classroom but also outside as well as having a certain degree of fluency around computer use. The forms of electronic literacy used by the English teacher and the purposes for which they were used demonstrate his pedagogy in English and the social forces that shape the production of this pedagogy. The research shows an expansion of the teacher’s role in the English classroom as he is no longer only ‘a mediator of learning’ but a mediator of technology. The status of the text has also changed as the ‘disappearance’ of print-based texts from the classroom was noted with the foregrounding of visual texts and hypertexts. It was found that the students on the whole were engaged with the technology used in the classroom and expressed a preference for its integration into their lessons as opposed to the traditional ‘reading and writing’ practices. Additionally, students’ engagement did not vary according to gender.

Thesis (M.Ed.) -- University of the North, 1992 / Refer to the document

<p>The aim of this study is to investigate the notion of pupil influence in English teaching at level 1 and 2 at High-School level. The study focuses on how the students and teachers experience the possibility of influence in their English classes. Empirical data has been collected through questionnaires from two classes at year 1 and two classes at year 2 in English. The study also includes interviews from four teachers and four students. The study is both qualitative and quantitative. The results show that the majority of the students consider their possibility of influence in their English- learning to be very high in all schools to a great extent, even though the results showed that their influence in their teaching was not very extensive.</p><p>The way the students mostly influenced their teaching was when discussing the planning of their courses and through regularly made evaluations of their courses.</p><p>The teachers´ view on the pupil-influence was mostly linked to personal views and opinions of the matter as well as the referred information in the national curriculum for teachers. Overall the results show that the students´ and the teachers´ view on the influence seems to coincide very well.</p><p>The differences in year 1 and 2 at high-school in this investigation can mostly be seen by the fact that year 2 increasingly can influence their curriculum of their courses and that they also can influence how examinations are to be carried out in a more extensive way than the students in year 1.</p><p>The hypothesis of this essay, that pupil-influence should increase with age and level at</p><p>high-school proved to be a partly correct assumption, mainly because the majority of the students expressed that this was partly true. Nevertheless, both the teachers and the interviewed students claimed that influence increases with age, so maybe it is hard to make a clear conclusion out of these results.</p>

The randomly sampled subjects in this study are elementary school English teachers from Kaohsiung city, Kaohsiung and Ping-Tung counties. The study was designated into a questionnaire survey with the aim to investigate elementary school English teachers¡¦ attitudes and consideration factors toward the integrative use of games and their English-teaching practices. 302 subjects were randomly selected, data were analyzed through several statistical measures, such as item analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, stepwise multiple regression. It is hoped to promote more active, motivating and inspiring teaching in English instruction. According to the analyses of the questionnaire, several major findings are as follows¡G 1. Most elementary school English teachers agreed that integrative use of games in the English-teaching did not necessarily promote their students¡¦ learning achievement. 2. Elementary school English teachers used games in English class at least once per week. 3. The least used teaching aid for Elementary school English teachers was building blocks. 4. Elementary school English teachers used to attend the workshops that were sponsored by the schools and publishers were more likely using games in their English-teaching; while those who attended workshops sponsored by University¡¦s English departments less likely used games in their teaching. 5. English teacher, English teaching experience in the elementary school is over 16 years, teaching over 21 English instructional sessions per week, Elementary school English teachers joined the institutions that held the workshops on games by ¡§elementary schools¡¨, spent much time using games in their English teaching. 6. English teachers¡¦ attitudes and consideration factors toward the integrative use of games showed little correlation with their actual practices in English-teaching. Finally, based upon the above findings, the researcher provided several suggestions for teachers, elementary schools and future researchers who might be interested in this topic.

The aim of this study is to investigate the notion of pupil influence in English teaching at level 1 and 2 at High-School level. The study focuses on how the students and teachers experience the possibility of influence in their English classes. Empirical data has been collected through questionnaires from two classes at year 1 and two classes at year 2 in English. The study also includes interviews from four teachers and four students. The study is both qualitative and quantitative. The results show that the majority of the students consider their possibility of influence in their English- learning to be very high in all schools to a great extent, even though the results showed that their influence in their teaching was not very extensive. The way the students mostly influenced their teaching was when discussing the planning of their courses and through regularly made evaluations of their courses. The teachers´ view on the pupil-influence was mostly linked to personal views and opinions of the matter as well as the referred information in the national curriculum for teachers. Overall the results show that the students´ and the teachers´ view on the influence seems to coincide very well. The differences in year 1 and 2 at high-school in this investigation can mostly be seen by the fact that year 2 increasingly can influence their curriculum of their courses and that they also can influence how examinations are to be carried out in a more extensive way than the students in year 1. The hypothesis of this essay, that pupil-influence should increase with age and level at high-school proved to be a partly correct assumption, mainly because the majority of the students expressed that this was partly true. Nevertheless, both the teachers and the interviewed students claimed that influence increases with age, so maybe it is hard to make a clear conclusion out of these results.

The lack of a real English environment in Taiwan and big class teaching had long limited the opportunities for Taiwanese English learners to use English. Due to thriving development of internet technology in recent years, the predicament has been broken through. Internet not only opens a new communicational channel for teachers and students, but also creates an authentic environment for English learners. As the new curriculum policy ¡§coherence curriculum of civil education¡¨, which emphasizes on setting information instruction into each subjects, is taken into practice, learning English with internet tools must will become a trend in the future. Therefore, this research examines the distance between the ideal and the reality using an internet-based English teaching project, and probe into some feasible ways to conduct similar program in the future. There were four purposes of this research: 1. To find out the key factors of success in internet-based English teaching from relative theories and former researches. 2. To understand the teacher¡¦s and students¡¦ performances and the students¡¦ reflections during the first half year joining an internet-based English teaching project. 3. To probe into the merits and defects of the internet-based English teaching project, AJET. 4. To discover the difficulties and feasible ways for senior high schools to carry out internet-based English teaching. The subjects of this research were a senior high school class and their teacher who first joined an internet-based English teaching project named ¡§Advanced Joint English Teaching¡¨ (AJET) in Kaohsiung. All 44 students were male. During the research period, they participated in six internet-based teaching activities, which were ¡§group e-mailing,¡¨ ¡§web-based course,¡¨ ¡§e-mail writing program,¡¨ ¡§English homepage design,¡¨ ¡§video conference¡¨ and ¡§chatroom discussion.¡¨ The researcher traced the students¡¦ performances and collected their work pieces mainly through e-mail, AJET homepage and telephone during the research period. A questionnaire was given to elicit relevant information on the participants¡¦ perception of, and attitudes towards, using the internet technology to complete their Internet-based English projects. Follow-up interview with 10 students and 2 teachers were also collected at the end of the research to understand their reflections on the project. In addition, the students¡¦ performances at the second homepage contest were also recorded. After data collection, the quantitative and qualitative methods were performed. The quantitative statistic analysis was employed using descriptive analysis to investigate the learners¡¦ perceptions towards the Web-based project. The qualitative analysis made from the student responses to the open-ended questions and the researcher¡¦s observation, provided the opportunity to uncover deeper issues than might have been apparent in a quantitative study. Students¡¦ responses to the open-ended questions were broken down into excerpts, where each excerpt represented one complete answer to a question, including any follow-up questions or clarification by student interviews. The main findings and conclusions of this research are as follows: 1. The students¡¦ participation and interaction were not good, and need the teacher¡¦s supervision to help them to form active learning habits. 2. The teacher was overloaded in the project and found it difficult to do both administration and teaching. There is a need of others¡¦ coordination. 3. The students liked and approved of English learning through internet, but differed in their opinions about its benefits to English learning. 4. The project provided the students an opportunity to experience new technologies, felt the pleasure of learning and increased their learning possibilities. 5. To carry out an internet-based English project, the project must spread relative concepts, consider the teacher¡¦s and students¡¦ loads, design each activity with proper number of participants, conduct relative training, and enhance the equipment and communicational efficiency. To sum up, although there is a distance between the ideal and the reality in the internet-based English teaching project, this way of English teaching is worth developing and expanding. Finally, according to the findings of this research, the researcher provides some suggestions for future organizations, teachers and researchers who are interested in this field.