Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-148). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-148). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A. (Sociology)) - Rhodes University, 2009.

This thesis explores the mutual impacts between English learners’ identity construction and their English learning at university level of education in the People’s Republic of China. Grounded in the sociocultural perspective on second language learning and based on the theory of communities of practice and the concepts of imagined communities and investment, the research focuses on two non-English major students’ English learning in a comprehensive university and investigates the social, historical and individualistic factors causing identity continuity and/or identity change in the first year of university study and explores how identity construction and English learning mutually impacted each other. This research adopted a qualitative case study method and employed weekly diaries and interviews as data collection instruments. Data collection lasted six months. Weekly diaries guided by prompt questions were collected per week to track learners’ English learning and identity construction. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted every five to six weeks to gain rich contextual, historical and individual information and to retrospectively find out learners’ English learning and identities before entering the university and in the first semester in university. Their English teacher was interviewed for data enrichment and triangulation. Thematic analysis and Fairclough’s model of discourse analysis were used to identify evidence which shows identity continuity, identity change, and English learning. Findings show that in English learning in the university, language learners experienced either identity continuity or change in English learner identities, future career expectations and the sense of belonging to learning communities in the university. Learners’ imagined identities in future careers and future social status remained continuous in the first year and the imagined identities in future careers and future social status strongly promoted learners’ investments in English learning. By engaging in the learning communities in the university with imagination of learning communities they desired to participate in and imagination of their future, learners built their sense of belonging to the university, their classes and their dormitories. The growth of the sense of belonging reflects learners’ identity change. The sense of belonging facilitated their full participation in English learning in the university, classes and dormitories as learning communities. The findings also show that when congruence between the actual and imagined communities appeared, learners’ English learning were promoted, whereas incongruence negatively impacted English learning. The findings of this study reveal the importance of learners’ imagined communities and imagined identities in future careers and future social status and also reveal the effects of learners’ non-academic factors on their English learning. This thesis suggests that learners’ diverse backgrounds and multiple identities should be taken into consideration when English curricular are designed. Career counselling and buddy schemes are also suggested. Accordingly, this study enhances the understanding of the first-year non-English major undergraduates’ identity construction in EFL learning in China. This study also attracts educators’ and researchers’ attention to the needs of non-English major students’ English learning in China as well as the needs of first-year undergraduates who experience a transition from high school to university. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Philosophy

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This dissertation "'Structure of Feeling" and Radical Identity among Working-Class Jewish Youth during the 1905 Revolution" examines the emotional aspects of revolutionary experience during a critical turning point in both Russian and Jewish history. Most studies of radicalization construe the process as an intellectual or analytical one. I argue that radicalization involved an emotional transformation, which enabled many young revolutionaries to develop a new "structure of feeling', defined by Raymond Williams as an intangible awareness that allows us to recognize someone belonging to our cultural group, as opposed to a well-versed stranger. The key elements of this new structure of feeling were an activist attitude towards reality and a prioritization of feelings demanding action over others. Uncovering the links between feeling, idea, and activism holds a special significance in the context of modern Jewish history. When pogroms swept through Jewish communities during 1905-6, young Jews who had fled years earlier, often after bitter conflicts with their families and a difficult rejection of traditions, returned to protect their communities. Never expecting to return or be accepted back, they arrived with new identities forged in radical study circles and revolutionary experience as activist, self-assertive Jews. The self-assertion that led them away earlier proved them more effective leaders than traditional Jewish communal authorities. Their intellectual and emotional experiences in self-education, secularization, and political activism meant creating a new social status within the Jewish community legitimating a new Jewish identity as working-class Jewish revolutionary. / text

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

This research was conducted to determine the extent to which Jewish adults perceive themselves ethnically and/or religiously Jewish and how a range of personal characteristics, attitudes and practices related to the importance of ethnic and religious identity. A random sample of 540 individuals was taken from the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver's mailing list comprised of Jewish individuals in the Lower Mainland that identify with the Jewish community This sample completed a survey on the importance of Jewish ethnic and religious identity. There were significantly more people who felt it was very important or somewhat important to be ethnically Jewish than felt it was very important or somewhat important to be religiously Jewish: 92.1% versus 59.8%. Three hypotheses were tested to examine the relationship between the importance of ethnic and religious identity (dependent variables) and the importance of ethnic and religious identity and certain personal characteristics, attitudes and practices. Cross-tabulations and analysis of variance were done to test these hypotheses. A fourth hypothesis was tested with logistic regression which was used to build a model to predict whether a subject would rate "ethnic" Jewishness as "very important" vs. "not very important" and "religious" Jewishness as "important" or "unimportant" based on a set of predictor variables. The findings indicate a significant relationship between the two dependent variables, very few personal characteristics were related to the dependent variables, and a significant relationship was found between all the attitudes and the majority of the practices and the two dependent variables. The most important predictor of whether a subject would rate "ethnic" Jewishness as "very important" or "not very important" was the global attitude score. The most important predictors of whether a subject would rate "religious" Jewishness as "important" or "unimportant" were global attitude and attitudes and practices reported as important because they are divinely ordained. When global attitudes were taken out of the logistic regression model due to their high degree of overlap with the global practices, the most important predictor of whether a subject would rate "ethnic" Jewishness as "very important" or "not very important" were the global practices, proportion of Jewish friends, and attitudes and practices reported as important because they provide a connection to the Jewish people. The most important predictors for whether a subject would rate" religious" Jewishness as "important" or "unimportant" were marital status, global practice, denominational affiliation and attitudes and practices reported as important because they are divinely ordained. The individual's sense of identity and the factors that contribute to that identity are important aspects in the psychological functioning of members of ethnic, racial and religious minority groups. The information gathered from this study aids those in the helping profession in understanding the important and unique role religion and ethnicity plays in individual lives as well as identifying ethnic and religious priorities for community services.