In the field of Korean as a foreign language (KFL) pragmatics, current scholarship documents a need for change in regards to speech styles as dynamic features (Byon, 2007; Chang, 2014; Cook, 2011; Jung, 2015; Park, 2012; Strauss & Eun, 2005; Yoon, 2010). However, speech styles are often taught at a pragmalinguistic level as a grammar point and in a textbook or in a classroom sociopragmatics presentation is limited to static contextual features such as one’s social status and/or age. Moreover, even though the honorifics system and speech styles are perceived as daunting by even the most advanced KFL learners (Brown, 2010, 2013; Byon, 2004, 2007; Choo, 1999; Shon, 1999; Yoon, 2010), the majority of KFL pragmatics research on speech styles focuses on students’ use and production of pragmatics features rather than focusing on the pedagogical application (see Byon, 2015; Song & Pyun, 2011). Instructors’ beliefs on teaching pragmatics and the background to their beliefs are also overlooked. This study is composed of three interrelated projects and grounded in pragmatics instructional studies, Pragmatic Consciousness Raising (PCR) (Rose 1994, 1999), multiliteracies pedagogy framework, and teachers’ beliefs research. The purpose of this mixed-method study is to understand KFL educators’ views on pragmatics instruction and the current state of pragmatics instruction in KFL programs at tertiary level institutions; the next step is to design and implement pragmatics lesson plans that are more practical and adaptable to current KFL programs. To this end, the research questions are 1) What is the current state of pragmatics instruction in KFL?; 2) What is KFL instructors’ cognition (Borg, 2006) of pragmatics instruction?; 3) Is speech styles instruction based on a multiliteracies pedagogy framework effective and what are the students’ perception toward the lessons? The research questions were answered through a survey and interviews of KFL educators as well as KFL students’ in-class and homework assignments and surveys before, during, and after the implementation of new lesson plans. The findings showed that the KFL field experienced positive changes such as collaboration with other instructors and curriculum development endeavors based on current theories and approaches in the field. However, similar issues and challenges to other less commonly taught language (LCTL) programs as well as their own unique challenges such as (over-)qualified teaching staff and an absence of equity and advocacy for instructors and programs still remained. The survey responses and interviews showed that both the administrators and instructors in KFL programs believe that pragmatics competence is crucial to developing proficiency in a foreign language and that pragmatics should be taught in class. The teachers’ own personal foreign language learning experiences were very influential in shaping their stated beliefs. However, it was also found that the teachers’ practices were based on their working definition of pragmatics rather than their espoused theories. In the classroom, textbooks provided the core element of curriculum and classroom practice, which the teachers thought contributed to persistently unsatisfactory approaches to pragmatics teaching. Drawing upon the survey and interview results, a series of instructional units, informed by PCR and multiliteracies pedagogy, was designed to be integrated into current textbook-oriented curricula and implemented in an upper elementary level Korean course. Contrary to the concerns of the interviewed KFL instructors, beginner-level students successfully participated and interacted meaningfully using authentic materials. The students showed development in metapragmatic awareness and in both pragmalinguistics and sociopragmatics knowledge. In addition, the students exhibited positive attitudes toward the instructional units. Based on this evidence, this dissertation concludes with implications and future research recommendations for teacher professional development training design, KFL curriculum, teaching material design, and teacher cognition research.

Education research has investigated teaching practices and uncovered a potential disconnect between instructors' knowledge and beliefs about teaching and their actual teaching practices. While experts of the subject matter, their understanding of teaching and their awareness of their own teaching capability significantly impact their enacted practices. However, there is a dearth of research in engineering on this aspect, particularly in electrical engineering (EE) education. EE as an applied science comprises many abstract concepts among other engineering disciplines that require strategic teaching practices to facilitate student learning. The intangible nature of these concepts, such as the foundational circuits concepts, raises the likelihood of acquiring issues in teaching among engineering instructors that can impact the construction of contextual knowledge and skills among engineering students. In this qualitative case study, the primary aim was to study the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty who taught the first and second-year ECE courses at Virginia Tech. Answers were sought through the overarching research question how do engineering instructors' knowledge and beliefs about engineering teaching influence their enacted practice in teaching introductory electric circuits? using a synthesized framework of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), instructor beliefs and Watkins and Marsick's Continuous Learning Model (WMCLM). The significant findings from the analysis of interviews, class recordings, and Canvas course materials suggested that the ECE instructors' formed PCK and held beliefs can have an affirmative influence on enacted practice, meaning, their knowledge and beliefs about engineering teaching reinforced their enacted practice. This influence was apparent in their various student-centric approaches to contextualizing the ECE concepts using their combined experiences. In contrast, constructive influence captured the potential causes of "disconnect" between their formed "knowledge and beliefs" and their enacted practice. This influence was rooted in how the abstract fundamental ECE concepts, in most cases, required contexts outside of the instructors' core experiences. The attempt to use multiple strategies to attain the course goals had created oversight tendencies on their implementation magnified by the online and hybrid modality, especially with the team-teaching design of the base ECE courses. Such relevant issues needed time-constraining solutions from the course instructor to the administrative level. This work can further advance the instructional methods in EE education after understanding the influences of instructors' beliefs and knowledge on their enacted practices to teach foundational concepts in ECE. More broadly, this work will have implications for educators, curriculum designers, and researchers who seek to improve engineering instruction and address the current issues in teaching engineering. The outcomes provide research opportunities to interrogate how we can use instructional practices to design methodologies that can elucidate and solve issues on instructors' enacted practices constructively. More importantly, the results of this study can be utilized to design professional development programs for engineering teaching faculty by having a framework to continuously examine instructors' beliefs and knowledge to support their teaching practice. / Doctor of Philosophy / In the past years, research has been done in uncovering why there have been issues in teaching practices. While instructors are assumed experts of the content they are teaching, research suggests they must develop an awareness of their ability to teach to improve their enacted practice. However, there is a need for further research in electrical engineering (EE) education in this aspect because of the challenges associated with the abstract nature of its fundamental content for which engineering students' learning can be heavily impacted by engineering instructors teaching practices. In this case study, the primary aim was to study the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty who taught the first and second-year ECE courses at Virginia Tech. Answers were sought through the overarching research question how do engineering instructors' knowledge and beliefs about engineering teaching influence their enacted practice in teaching introductory electric circuits? using a synthesized model of instructor knowledge, beliefs, and practices. The significant findings from the analysis of interviews, class recordings, and Canvas course materials suggested that the ECE instructors' knowledge and beliefs can have an affirmative influence on enacted practice, meaning, their knowledge and beliefs about engineering teaching reinforced their enacted practice. This influence was seen in their various use of real-world examples around the ECE concepts using their own experiences to provide context. In contrast, constructive influence captured how the abstract fundamental ECE concepts, in most cases, required contexts outside of the instructors' core experiences. The attempt to use many different strategies to achieve the course goals had created issues on their implementation. This has been magnified by the online and hybrid modality, especially with the team-teaching setup for which the resolution relies on administrative-level decisions. This work can further advance the instructional methods in EE education after understanding the influences of instructors' beliefs and knowledge on their enacted practices to teach foundational concepts in ECE.

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the beliefs of 5 experienced instructors about the ways adults learn in online professional development (OPD) courses, beliefs about creating online learning environments, and beliefs about instructional strategies for facilitating adult learning. The following questions guided this study: 1. What are the instructor’s beliefs about the ways that adults learn in online professional development courses? 2. What are the instructor’s beliefs about creating an online learning environment for adult learners? 3. What are the instructor’s beliefs about the use of instructional strategies to facilitate online learning with adults? The setting for the study was the professional development program of a large metropolitan school district in the southeastern United States. Data were collected through interviews, discussion board postings, and instructor journals and analyzed using a constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The following themes emerged from the data: • Adult learning in OPD courses is an active process of making connections and applying knowledge and skills. • Learning for adults in OPD courses must be useful, meaningful, relevant, practical, adaptable, and applicable to the work setting. • Learning for adults in an OPD course requires more effort and commitment than learning in face-to-face professional development settings. • Adult learners in OPD courses need a comfort zone where they can feel “safe” communicating and interacting with learners and the instructor. • Adult learners need varying amounts of encouragement, support, guidance, and nurturing within a positive online learning environment(OLE)that supports and sustains them. • Instructors believe that collaboration is an effective strategy for facilitating learning with adults in OPD courses, yet existing barriers limit collaboration. • The OPD instructor is a flexible facilitator of learning who uses different types of feedback to confirm, correct, and inform learning with adults.