The purpose of this formative intervention was to design a professional and technical communications course around rhetorical inquiry. The participants, undergraduate health sciences majors (N=22 for section A, N=20 section B), were observed throughout the fall semester of the 2014-2015 academic year. A rhetorical inquiry framework was applied via activity systems, and data were collected using several methodologies including participant observations, research questionnaires, as well as participant deliverables, and were transcribed using Daisy Mwanza's Eight-Step Model. Results demonstrated students successfully used activity systems as a means of approaching rhetorical inquiry. Furthermore, students indicated a high level of engagement in the course. This study demonstrates how rhetorical inquiry can be utilized in Professional and Technical Communication for Health Sciences as a means of advancing student agency and participatory learning environments. The study also suggests rhetorical inquiry should be part of the professional and technical communication curriculum and other academic disciplines as well as utilized in the workplace.

abstract: This dissertation examines collaborative inquiry as a form of graduate mentoring. To investigate this issue, I analyze the research and writing process of a team of five multilingual graduate students and their mentor as they collaboratively design, implement, and report a study based in their local writing program over the course of two years. Through a qualitative activity analysis of team meetings, participant interviews, and the team’s written drafts and email correspondence, I investigate the ways in which self-sponsored, team-based collaborative research and writing supports participants’ learning and development of a professional identity. Key findings show that unanticipated obstacles in the research context present participants with “real-world” dilemmas that call forth disciplinary alignments, reinforce existing disciplinary practices, and, most importantly, generate new practices altogether. An example of this process is reflected in the research team's frequent need to adjust their research design as a result of constraints within the research environment. The team's ability to pivot in response to such constraints encouraged individual members to view the research enterprise as dynamic and fluid, leading ultimately to a heightened sense of agency and stronger awareness of the rhetorical challenges and opportunities posed by empirical research. Similarly, participants’ demonstrated an ability to recognize and resolve tensions stemming from competing demands on their time and attention during the course of their graduate study. Actively constructing resonances across various domains of their graduate worlds—coursework, teaching, and non-curricular research and professionalization activities—served to clarify purposes and increase motivation. An additional aspect of this study is the way graduate students leverage their language resources in the collaborative process. This dissertation extends the disciplinary conversation by investigating ways in which language resources function as rhetorical tools within the research context. This focus on language, in concert with collaboration and rhetorical stances to inquiry, challenges persistent views of authorship, apprenticeship, and language norms, while simultaneously lending insight into how graduate students invent new ways of participating in their professional worlds. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2015

Orientador: Irineu Aliprando Tuim Viotto Filho / Resumo: O presente trabalho sintetiza o percurso de uma pesquisa intervenção formativa que teve como objeto de estudo o desenvolvimento da consciência crítica do professor a partir da atividade de estudo. Partimos para tanto da compreensão de que a psicologia históricocultural possui pressupostos importantes que podem auxiliar na compreensão do desenvolvimento humano e assim contribuir para o direcionamento de atividades educativas, visto a compreensão nessa perspectiva de que é por meio da educação que o ser humano se apropria do arcabouço cultural, humanizando-se. Foram realizadas observações sistemáticas em sala de aula do 2º ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola municipal de Birigui/SP, em que depreendemos como um dos problemas mais gerais a questão da organização das atividades escolares que se davam de modo fragmentado: professora e alunos realizando atividades distintas e desconexas, evidenciando influências das concepções pedagógicas que norteiam a prática, ora de cunho tradicional, ora construtivista, ou como um amalgama dessas com experiências práticas que se interpõe dependendo das demandas apresentadas em sala. O problema de nossa pesquisa se configurou em saber: a compreensão pelo professor das atividades de ensino e estudo como unidade pode favorecer a mudança de sua atividade e a consequente reorganização dessa? O objetivo mais amplo desse trabalho se configurou em compreender a relação entre a atividade de estudo e o desenvolvimento da consciência crítica do profess... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This paper synthesizes the course of a formative intervention research that had as its object of study the development of the teacher's critical conscience from the study activity. We start from the understanding that historical-cultural psychology has important assumptions that can help in understanding human development and thus contribute to the direction of educational activities, considering the understanding in this perspective that it is through education that the human being appropriates the cultural framework, humanizing itself. Systematic observations were made in the classroom of the 2nd year of elementary school of a municipal school in Birigui / SP, where we understood as one of the most general problems the question of the organization of school activities that took place in a fragmented way: teacher and students performing distinct and disconnected activities, showing influences of the pedagogical conceptions that guide the practice, sometimes of a traditional nature, sometimes constructivist, or as an amalgamation of these with practical experiences that interpose depending on the demands presented in the classroom. The problem of our research was to know: can the teacher's understanding of teaching and study activities as a unit favor the change of its activity and the consequent reorganization of this? The broad objective of this work was to understand the relationship between the study activity and the development of the teacher's critical conscience, which... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Pesquisas intervencionistas baseadas na Teoriada AtividadeHistórico-Cultural (TAHC), do aprendizado expansivo e que utilizam o método dialógico auxiliam no encontro de soluções para crises interinstitucionais complexas que exigem decisões urgentes e de impacto na sociedade. O objetivo do estudo foi aplicar e analisar a metodologia intervencionista Laboratório de Mudanças (LM), seus princípios esuas meta-ferramentas em um caso empírico de distanciamento institucional entre a Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo (FSP/USP) e o Centro de Saúde Escola Geraldo de Paula Souza (CSEGPS). Trata-se de uma pesquisa de intervenção formativa na modalidade de estudo de caso que ocorreu entre 2013 e 2016. Foram realizadas análise de documentos e observação exploratória para coleta de dados etnográficos,entrevistas semiestruturadas, reuniões de planejamento e sessões do LM. O referencial teórico utilizado para análise dos dados foi a metodologia do LM. O uso do princípio de dupla estimulação de Vygostsky ajudou os participantes e pesquisadores a identificar as contradições nos Sistemas de Atividades (SAs) e desvelar a gênese histórica e sistêmica dos problemas que culminaram na crise e no afastamento nas relações de colaboração em atividades acadêmicas. Oresgate das origens das contradições manifestadas como conflitos e distúrbios e a análise dessas contradições serviu para retroalimentar o processo de aprendizagem dos participantes.A Linha do Tempo foi uma das meta-ferramentas utilizadas que auxiliou a identificar que no passado havia uma convergência entre os objetos da FSP/USP e do CSGPS e os eventos críticos decorrentes de mudanças nas políticas econômicas, de saúde e educação, que dentre outros fatores internos às instituições influenciaram direta e indiretamente para o distanciamento, a ruptura e a crise vivenciada.A análise histórica foi um elemento essencial no processo para a aprendizagem organizacional e expansiva porque favoreceua manifestação do protagonismo dos atores envolvidos.Ao final da intervenção, a visão que os atores tinham sobre os problemas foi expandida para o entendimento de uma crise da universidade pública com a sociedade, que foi compreendida como crise de legitimidade da universidade pública. Houve ampliação de conceitos que possibilitaram aos atores visualizar soluções e desenhar a atividade de colaboração futura, no âmbito de quais seriam as relações acadêmico-pedagógicas e o processo de trabalho no SistemaÚnico de Saúde (SUS). Apesar da pesquisater sido realizada 9 em um contexto de incerteza institucional, onde havia falta de decisões políticas sobre o destino de uma das instituições, a intervenção formativa com o LM, que associa pesquisa com a extensão, foi considerada uma poderosa ferramenta para o desenvolvimento da aprendizagem e do protagonismo dos atores, com capacidade de produzir transformações nos SAs. / Interventionist Research based on the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), of expansive learning and which uses the dialog method helps in the quest for solutions for complex institutional crises which call for urgent decisions which impact society. The objective of the study was to apply and analyze the interventionist Change Laboratory (CL) methodology, its principles and its meta-tools to an empirical case of the institutional distancing of the School Public Health of the University of São Paulo (SPH/USP) from the Educational Health Center Geraldo de Paula Souza (EHCGPS). This is a formative interventionist research in the case study mode which occurred between 2013 and 2016. A documentary analysis and exploratory observation were undertaken for the collection of ethnographic data, as also were semi-structured interviews, planning meetings and CL sessions. The theoretical frame of reference used for the data analysis was the CL method. The use of Vygostsky\'s double-stimulation principle helped the participants and researchers to identify the contradictions in the Activity Systems (ASs) and reveal the historical and systemic genesis of the problems which culminated in the crisis and the distancing in the collaborative relationship in academic activities. The recovery of the origins of the contradictions revealed as conflicts and disturbances and the analysis of these contradictions served to retro-feed the participants\' learning process. The Time-line was one of the meta-tools used which helped to identify the convergence which had existed in the past between the objectives of the SPH/USP and the EHCGPS and the critical events which arose from the changes in the policies, at one and the same time economic, of health and of education which, among other internal factors of the institutions concerned contributed both directly and indirectly to the distancing, the rupture and the crisis experienced. The historical analysis was an element essential to the organizational and expansive learning process because it favored the expression of the activity of the authors involved. At the end of the intervention, the vision which the actors hadof the problems involved was enlarged into the understanding of the crisis of the public university in its relationship with society, understood as a crisis of the legitimacy of the public university. There was a broadening of concepts which enabled the actors to visualize solutions and plan the activity of future collaboration within the ambit of what the academic-pedagogical relations and the process of the working of the Unified 11Health System (UHS) would be. Despite the research\'s having been undertaken in a context of institutional uncertainty, in which there was a lack of political decision as to the fate of one of the institutions concerned, the formative intervention using the CL, which associates research and extension work, was considered a powerful tool for the enlargement of learning and the actors\' participation, capable of transforming the ASs.

Pesquisas intervencionistas baseadas na Teoriada AtividadeHistórico-Cultural (TAHC), do aprendizado expansivo e que utilizam o método dialógico auxiliam no encontro de soluções para crises interinstitucionais complexas que exigem decisões urgentes e de impacto na sociedade. O objetivo do estudo foi aplicar e analisar a metodologia intervencionista Laboratório de Mudanças (LM), seus princípios esuas meta-ferramentas em um caso empírico de distanciamento institucional entre a Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo (FSP/USP) e o Centro de Saúde Escola Geraldo de Paula Souza (CSEGPS). Trata-se de uma pesquisa de intervenção formativa na modalidade de estudo de caso que ocorreu entre 2013 e 2016. Foram realizadas análise de documentos e observação exploratória para coleta de dados etnográficos,entrevistas semiestruturadas, reuniões de planejamento e sessões do LM. O referencial teórico utilizado para análise dos dados foi a metodologia do LM. O uso do princípio de dupla estimulação de Vygostsky ajudou os participantes e pesquisadores a identificar as contradições nos Sistemas de Atividades (SAs) e desvelar a gênese histórica e sistêmica dos problemas que culminaram na crise e no afastamento nas relações de colaboração em atividades acadêmicas. Oresgate das origens das contradições manifestadas como conflitos e distúrbios e a análise dessas contradições serviu para retroalimentar o processo de aprendizagem dos participantes.A Linha do Tempo foi uma das meta-ferramentas utilizadas que auxiliou a identificar que no passado havia uma convergência entre os objetos da FSP/USP e do CSGPS e os eventos críticos decorrentes de mudanças nas políticas econômicas, de saúde e educação, que dentre outros fatores internos às instituições influenciaram direta e indiretamente para o distanciamento, a ruptura e a crise vivenciada.A análise histórica foi um elemento essencial no processo para a aprendizagem organizacional e expansiva porque favoreceua manifestação do protagonismo dos atores envolvidos.Ao final da intervenção, a visão que os atores tinham sobre os problemas foi expandida para o entendimento de uma crise da universidade pública com a sociedade, que foi compreendida como crise de legitimidade da universidade pública. Houve ampliação de conceitos que possibilitaram aos atores visualizar soluções e desenhar a atividade de colaboração futura, no âmbito de quais seriam as relações acadêmico-pedagógicas e o processo de trabalho no SistemaÚnico de Saúde (SUS). Apesar da pesquisater sido realizada 9 em um contexto de incerteza institucional, onde havia falta de decisões políticas sobre o destino de uma das instituições, a intervenção formativa com o LM, que associa pesquisa com a extensão, foi considerada uma poderosa ferramenta para o desenvolvimento da aprendizagem e do protagonismo dos atores, com capacidade de produzir transformações nos SAs. / Interventionist Research based on the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), of expansive learning and which uses the dialog method helps in the quest for solutions for complex institutional crises which call for urgent decisions which impact society. The objective of the study was to apply and analyze the interventionist Change Laboratory (CL) methodology, its principles and its meta-tools to an empirical case of the institutional distancing of the School Public Health of the University of São Paulo (SPH/USP) from the Educational Health Center Geraldo de Paula Souza (EHCGPS). This is a formative interventionist research in the case study mode which occurred between 2013 and 2016. A documentary analysis and exploratory observation were undertaken for the collection of ethnographic data, as also were semi-structured interviews, planning meetings and CL sessions. The theoretical frame of reference used for the data analysis was the CL method. The use of Vygostsky\'s double-stimulation principle helped the participants and researchers to identify the contradictions in the Activity Systems (ASs) and reveal the historical and systemic genesis of the problems which culminated in the crisis and the distancing in the collaborative relationship in academic activities. The recovery of the origins of the contradictions revealed as conflicts and disturbances and the analysis of these contradictions served to retro-feed the participants\' learning process. The Time-line was one of the meta-tools used which helped to identify the convergence which had existed in the past between the objectives of the SPH/USP and the EHCGPS and the critical events which arose from the changes in the policies, at one and the same time economic, of health and of education which, among other internal factors of the institutions concerned contributed both directly and indirectly to the distancing, the rupture and the crisis experienced. The historical analysis was an element essential to the organizational and expansive learning process because it favored the expression of the activity of the authors involved. At the end of the intervention, the vision which the actors hadof the problems involved was enlarged into the understanding of the crisis of the public university in its relationship with society, understood as a crisis of the legitimacy of the public university. There was a broadening of concepts which enabled the actors to visualize solutions and plan the activity of future collaboration within the ambit of what the academic-pedagogical relations and the process of the working of the Unified 11Health System (UHS) would be. Despite the research\'s having been undertaken in a context of institutional uncertainty, in which there was a lack of political decision as to the fate of one of the institutions concerned, the formative intervention using the CL, which associates research and extension work, was considered a powerful tool for the enlargement of learning and the actors\' participation, capable of transforming the ASs.

The study examines how a small-scale formative intervention and concepts from both activity theory and salutogenic perspective can be used to support teachers' transformative agency and school development work. The research questions have focused on capacity for change, sense of coherence (SOC) and the significance of local conditions for change initiatives.  The theoretical and methodological framework in the study stems from third generation activity theory and salutogenic perspective. The study has a qualitative approach and was conducted through a formative intervention with six teachers, in collaboration with a municipal secondary school. Data have been collected through participant observation, reflection logs and semi-structured interviews, and processed through thematic analysis based on the theoretical standpoints. In addition, the studied school and the intervention group have been analysed as two interacting activity systems. The results show that the prevailing conditions of the individual school greatly affect development initiatives and change processes, as well as the teachers' transformative agency. Furthermore, it appears that emotional aspects and intra- and interpersonal factors have a significant impact on the actions of both teachers and school management. The results also suggest that the SOC concept can be incorporated in formative interventions, both as a facilitating instrument and as a secondary stimulus. / I studien undersöks hur en småskalig formativ intervention och koncept från både aktivitetsteori och salutogent perspektiv kan användas för att stödja lärares transformativa agentskap och skolans utvecklingsarbete. Forskningsfrågorna har fokuserat på förändringskapacitet, känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) och de lokala villkorens betydelse för förändringsinitiativ. Studiens teoretiska och metodologiska ramverk utgår från tredje generationens aktivitetsteori och salutogent perspektiv. Undersökningen har en kvalitativ ansats och genomfördes inom ramen för en formativ intervention med sex lärare, i samarbete med en kommunal högstadieskola. Data har samlats in via deltagande observation, reflektionsloggar och semistrukturerade intervjuer, och bearbetats genom tematisk analys utifrån de teoretiska utgångspunkterna. Därtill har den studerade verksamheten och interventionsgruppen analyserats som två interagerande aktivitetssystem. Resultatet visar att den enskilda skolans rådande villkor i hög utsträckning påverkar utvecklingsinitiativ och förändringsprocesser, liksom lärarnas transformativa agentskap. Vidare framgår att emotionella aspekter och intra- och interpersonella faktorer har en betydande inverkan både lärarnas och skolledningens agerande. Resultatet tyder också på att KASAM-konceptet kan inkorporeras i formativa interventioner, både som ett möjliggörande instrument och som sekundär stimulus.