This study is a qualitative examination of second language (L2) learning processes by four advanced learners of Japanese in the community of a summer intensive full-immersion program in the United States. Using L2 socialization theory as a theoretical framework, this study conceives of L2 learning as a process of social participation in a community of practice and examines L2 learning processes by four learners, focusing on the dynamic interplay between the affordances of the social community and the agency of the individual learners. The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) It investigates the ways in which the four learners exercise their agency to pursue their goals of learning Japanese and (b) it documents how the different ways in which the four learners exercise agency form different trajectories of learning and create different experiences of L2 socialization. This study has adopted an ethnographic case study approach to the investigation of research inquiries. Through the analyses of data obtained from multiple sources, including interviews with the four learners, observations of their engagement in the community of practice of the summer intensive full-immersion program, their audio-recorded conversations with other members of the community, and various artifacts, this study explores the role of L2 learner agency in the process of L2 socialization and describes in depth their experiences of learning Japanese from their emic perspectives. The case studies of the four learners have highlighted the different ways in which they engaged in the community of practice, understood their tasks of learning Japanese, interpreted the affordances of the social community, negotiated the meaning of their participations, defined and redefined their sense of self, and eventually achieved their L2 learning goals. The findings suggest that the richness and effectiveness of a social environment are not characterized by the physical and academic affordances of a social community alone; rather they are constructed in a dynamic relation between the affordance structure of a social community and the L2 learners' agency in the pursuit of the joint enterprise of making L2 learning happen. With regard to the role of L2 learner agency, the study has foregrounded the important role of the aspirations of the four L2 learners for personal transformation and negotiation of the meaning of self of the past, the present, and the future. The findings suggest that L2 learners' diverse and complex social and personal desires for learning an L2 may not be able to be explained using the notion of investment (Norton, 1995, 2000) alone. Since the SLA debate initiated by Firth and Wagner (1997, 2007), SLA research has begun to reconceptualize L2 learners as socially situated beings with diverse needs, wants, and identities. This study presents four portraits of L2 learners who engaged in the enterprise of learning Japanese, as a means of contributing to this reconceptualization, and explores for these four learners what it meant to learn Japanese in the summer of 2010.

By the 1990's many modes of artwork incorporated the constructs of the museum. Art forms including, 'ethnographic art', 'museum interventions', 'museum fictions' and 'artist museums' were considered to be located in similar realms to each other. These investigations into this emerging 'genre' of collection-art have primarily focussed upon the critique of the public museum and its grand-narratives. This thesis will attempt to recognise that the critique of institutional hierarchical systems is now considered integral to much collection art and extends this enquiry to incorporate private collections which examine the narratives of everyday existence. This paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach to material culture and art criticism in examining everyday objects within contemporary collection-art. In this context, this paper argues that: the investigation of collection motivations (fetish, souvenir and system) as metaphor, process and imagery in conjunction with the mimicking of museology methodologies (classification, order and display) is an effective model for interpreting everyday objects within contemporary collection-art. In formulating this argument, this paper examines the ways in which artists emulate museology methodologies in order to convey cultural significance for everyday objects. This is explored in conjunction with the employment of collection motivations by artists as a device to understand elements of human/object relations. In doing so, it contemplates the convergence between the practices of museums and collection-artists. These issues are explored through the visual and analytic investigations of key artist case studies including: Damien Hirst, Sylvie Fleury, Mike Kelley, Christian Boltanski, On Kawara, Luke Roberts, Jason Rhoades, Karsten Bott and Elizabeth Gower. In doing so, this paper argues that the everyday objects of collection-art can represent a broad range of socio/cultural concerns, so delineating a closer relationship between collection-art and material culture.

The author's ethnographic study of a professional development program for managers and aspiring managers taught at a distance intends to make a substantial contribution to both the theory and practice of continuing education for professionals. The study focused on a group of Deakin University Master of Business Administration (MBA) participants and their experiences of the final two years of the program. Theorising on the professional development experience was based on data gathered from the direct observation of participants working in their study groups and at residential schools. Moreover, data drawn from end-of-year interviews with participants and discussions with MBA teachers also contributed to the theorising process. Theorising spanned a broad set of interactions encompassing participants' formal educational, professional and personal worlds. The thesis is devoted to two aspects of the professional development experience, namely: participants' interactions in their study groups and at residential schools; and participants' attempts to grow and develop as competent professional practitioners during their MBA studies. Interactions with key learning contexts orchestrated by the teaching institution (i.e. study groups and residential schools) are grounded in an analysis of the changing group cultures observed to accommodate the different educational demands of the program. Group interaction on a broader scale is also analysed in the context of the residential schools. The residential school provided a powerful forum for the development of participant activism over the future development of the MBA program. The analysis of the study groups in action led the author to identify the key characteristics of effective educational work groups. The implications of the success of these essentially egalitarian and leaderless groups for the formation of self-managed groups in the workplace is examined. On the matter of professional development, the author reveals the relationships between the nature of participants' jobs, their search for professional integration, their stage of professional empowerment, the strategies they pursued either to empower themselves or others in their organisations and the barriers which were encountered in the pursuit of empowerment. Dramatic examples of professional disempowerment are analysed indicating that interaction between formal off-the-job learning and professional practice in the workplace is not necessarily a smooth and positive experience. The group of participants studied are seen to be heterogeneous in relation to the above factors characterising professional development The implications of the theorising are considered in relation to professional pedagogies, assessment strategies and distance education. Distance education is seen to socially construct the roles of both teachers and students in the educational process. Specifically, teachers are seen to be somewhat marginalised during the program in use whereas the participants are located at the centre of the educational experience. The primacy of participants in the educational process is highlighted through the growing reliance on self-and peer-group assessment skills as participants progressed through the program. It is argued that the teaching institution should encourage and maintain the development of these skills as they represent a major learning outcome of the professional development experience, i.e. the ability to engage in the process of critical self-reflection and informed action.

This study examines and demonstrates the value of a matrix approach in the discipline of conservation and the concerns specific to the conservation of archaeological and ethnographic objects. The chapters identify the relevance of the matrix to current conservation practices through a history of artifact conservation and a discussion of the factors that compromise the conservators' role in the study and preservation of material culture. The discussion evaluates the nature of systematic research collections, the impact of legal issues, and the ethics of including cultural context as important aspects in the development of the matrix approach. The matrix approach provides the conservator with a number of variables or categories of information that may assist in the determination of an appropriate conservation process. In this study, the matrix approach was tested on a number of artifact objects. To provide a common link, all of the objects were characterized by paint on some form of cellulose (wood or a wood-like substrate). The object cases were from both ethnographic and archaeological contexts, and the work involved both laboratory procedures and consideration of non-laboratory (i.e. legal, cultural, ethical) aspects. The specific objects included (1) a probable tiponi of archaeological (Anasazi culture) context, (2) a group of coiled baskets of archaeological (Mogollon culture) context, (3) a kachina doll of ethnographic (Hopi culture) context, (4) a group of prayer sticks of archaeological (Puebloan and Tohono O'Odham) context, and (5) a fiddle of ethnographic (Apache culture) context. By recognizing the unique and diverse aspects of anthropology collections, the conservator who uses a matrix approach is better equipped to work with archaeologists on sites, with curators and exhibit designers in museums, and with claimants (or the descendants of an object's maker) in carrying out the multiple activities frequently involved in the conservation of objects as they exist in an ever broadening and more political context.

This ethnographic case study explored the insights and experiences of a small selection of working graduates from Dubai Women's College. Based on a literature review and a preliminary study, the following themes were identified and employed as stimuli for discussion: the balance between work and family responsibilities, gender issues in the workplace, issues of power relationships for women, coping with restrictions in an Arabic Islamic environment, reasons for work, and sources of influence and satisfaction. The research utilized feminist post-structural theory to collect the data and then analyze and interpret the comments made by the women. Self-reflexivity and transparency of the positionality of the researcher were critical in this research that relied on an unstructured personal interview approach. The research resulted in a rich description of the thoughts and concerns of five diverse women. Through discourse analysis, the dominant socio-cultural discourses in the areas of gender, marriage, kinship, ethnicity, meritocracy, materialism and religion that women interact with in this cultural environment were identified. The extent to which the women take up, disrupt and challenge these discourses was also explored with a view to suggest ways to 'better' women's lives. Implications of this study include an agenda for increased emancipation of women by greater freedom of choice through self awareness and the development of potential strategies to support empowerment.

<p>The purpose of this study is to find out what working procedures are used in Nepalese schools. We have also investegated teachers'views on how schools are organised and how the school system is structured in Nepal. Furthermore, we studied what kind of National Curriculum and other official documents that existed in Nepal, to support teachers when planning their teaching. In our study we used an ethnographic approach. </p><p>The literature review and our results show that the teachers in Nepal face several challenges in their profession. We believe that the central power of the government can in a future development be discussed in terms of de-centralisation of the school system. If so, it could be problematised how and what the teachers should teach and how the pupils'final School Leaving Certificate exam should look like.</p>

<p>The purpose of this article was to examine how students learn to use the Individual Development Plan (IUP) with written assessments as a tool for learning. The study is conducted according to an ethnographic approach. A total of 20 students, aged 13-14 years, participated. The production of data took place through participating observations, field notes and conversations. A qualitative content analysis was used for data analysis. The results of the analysis yielded the following codes: Clarification as a tool for learning; Difficult to understand as a tool for learning; Participation as a tool for learning and; Irrelevant as a tool for learning. Results of the study was coupled with an analytical model in which the concepts: integrated; mastered; and appropriated was in focus. The results showed that the students participated in the process of IUP with written reviews in varying ways. The type of participation they chose was dependent on how implemented, mastered and appropriated the practice with IUP with written judgments were.</p>

<p>Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to study the interaction between seller and buyer in a mobile phone store. The specific research questions under investigation are:Are there any underlying factors behind mobile purchase, and if so, what are they? Are mobile purchases driven by lifestyle factors and do customers try and create identities when purchasing new mobile phones?</p><p>Material/Method: The study employs an ethnographic method when trying to answer the posed research questions. I have under a period of two weeks studied the seller-buyer interaction in a mobile phone store. In order to further increase the accuracy of my findings, I have complemented my observations with a sample of buyer and seller interviews.</p><p>Main results: The observations and interviews were initially studied in isolation, resulting in different themes. These themes were then collapsed into some common themes pertaining to the different methods. Overall, I conclude three major findings from the seller-buyer interaction which I name, (1) context and influence, (2) status, and (3) social accepting.</p>

The purpose of this study is to find out what working procedures are used in Nepalese schools. We have also investegated teachers'views on how schools are organised and how the school system is structured in Nepal. Furthermore, we studied what kind of National Curriculum and other official documents that existed in Nepal, to support teachers when planning their teaching. In our study we used an ethnographic approach. The literature review and our results show that the teachers in Nepal face several challenges in their profession. We believe that the central power of the government can in a future development be discussed in terms of de-centralisation of the school system. If so, it could be problematised how and what the teachers should teach and how the pupils'final School Leaving Certificate exam should look like.

<p>The research employed a qualitative research paradigm. The ethnographic approach was used to conduct the research. Data collection was done though various ethnographic techniques, classroom observation, in-depth interviews and document analysis. The population was 85 women who participated in a Adult Basic Education and Training programme in Eersterivier in the Cape Peninsula area a questionnaire was used to collect demographic information of the participants Data was analysed by thematic analysis and coded, categorised and discussed according to the aim and objectives of the study in relation to previous studies The main findings were why exploring the existing literacy practice women were depended on others for literacy assistance, which made them avoid literacy events and become vulnerable in this process to cope with the everyday life.</p>