This thesis examines the use of electronic dictionaries by ESL students. In particular, it considers how, when and why students use electronic dictionaries in their writing processes. It also explores the extent to which students use words found in an electronic dictionary appropriately in their texts and whether electronic dictionary use influences their long-term acquisition of vocabulary.

The study proposes an alternative way for elementary school educators to instruct students in spelling. It suggests that spelling instruction should allow ample time for students to manipulate letters and patterns in their spelling words and provide time for writing. It also offers a two-week lesson plan of spelling instruction backed by research. The study was conducted using a mixed design with a predominantly Hispanic 6th grade class at a Title I school, with 60% of the students classified as English Language Learners. The study design consisted of observations of the students manipulating the spelling words, anecdotal notes taken while observing the students, and the collection of writing samples across time. Data was collected by four formal language arts tests and bimonthly spelling assessments.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this study was to describe the criteria that students reported using when selecting writing samples for an assessment portfolio. Specifically, the study involved content analysis of student responses to five prompts which asked the students to give selection criteria for writing samples in language arts portfolios prepared for assessment. The population consisted of twelve eighth grade students in three urban middle schools. The students were in classes that were participating in the New Standards Portfolio Assessment Field Trial. In addition to the responses to prompts, students also submitted writing samples to be scored using New Standards rubrics. The writing samples were evaluated to determine if the students successfully selected pieces of their writing to provide evidence of standards attainment. Through the analysis of the student responses to the prompts, two categories of selection criteria were noted. Public standards were the standards that corresponded with the criteria that were presented to the students through their use of New Standards performance standards, portfolio exhibit requirements, and entry slips. Personal standards were criteria that did not correspond to the published criteria presented to the students. Ten sub-categories were identified. These ten sub-categories became the instrument for analysis and tabulation of the students' reported criteria for selecting writing samples for their portfolios. Findings indicated that students were willing to use the public standards and that they used them more frequently than personal standards in justifying selections for the assessment portfolio. However, student identification of appropriate criteria did not guarantee that the writing samples that the student submitted received scores that would indicate standards attainment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of word processing on the quality of written expression of students with learning disabilities identified in the area of written expression. A examination of existing research revealed that most studies do not focus on word processing independent of writing instruction. Therefore, the consensus among researchers that word processors make a difference is limited by the influence of instruction within the research setting. Therefore, this study sought to determine the impact made solely by word processing by controlling for instruction. The 75 students who participated in the study represented three groups--students with learning disabilities identified in the area of written expression (LD-W), students with learning disabilities identified in an area other than written expression (LD-O), and general education students (NA). Each student completed four writing samples: (a) descriptive - handwritten, (b) informative - handwritten, (c) descriptive - word processed, and (d) informative - word processed. The writing samples were scored according to the TOWL-3 on the three Spontaneous Composite subtests (e.g., Contextual Conventions, Contextual Language, and Story Construction). In addition, Word Perfect 6.1- Grammatik was used to determine the number of syllables, words, and sentences in each writing sample. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used in the analysis in conjunction with univariate F-Tests and Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) test. General education students scored consistently higher than LD-W on all subtests even when handwriting and word processing were considered. They also generated more syllables, words, and sentences than students with learning disabilities. In addition, all students scored higher on subtests when writing descriptive samples rather than writing informative samples. No practically significant results were determined for the effect of word processing. Therefore, word processing alone does not have an impact on students' quality of writing. It is simply a tool in the writing process. These results do not suggest that schools disregard the use of technology. Rather, teachers must continue to use word processors during writing instruction but should focus on providing good writing instruction.

The contemporary classroom currently faces an evolving world of computer based training, online courses, instructor-led learning and several blended approaches in-between. With the increased presence of computers and communication in every facet of students' lives, students have changed to adapt to the continuous presence of technology in their daily lives. These recent rapid developments have changed the relationship between technology and communication. Indeed, communication and technology have become linked to such a degree that it is difficult to differentiate one from the other, thereby altering our rhetorical situation as instructors. Instructors can no longer deny the presence of technology in the contemporary classroom, much less in the contemporary composition classroom. This case study serves as a post-modern analysis of the technology based blended classroom. A gap exists between what online learning is (being) today and what it is (becoming) tomorrow. This dissertation explores the gap by examining two rich data sources: online visitor navigational patterns and instructor interviews. The fundamental ideas that this text explores are the following: - Web server logs and PHP logs can be analyzed to yield relevant information that assists in the design, architecture, and administration of online and blended learning courses. - Technology in the writing classroom does not necessarily solve traditional problems associated with the composition classroom. Technology is a tool, not a solution. - Technology has changed the rhetorical situation of the composition classroom. As a result, instructors must adapt to the changed rhetorical environment. Via this study, readers will hopefully gain a better understanding of the relatively unexplored margins between instruction, composition and technology paradigms. Instructors, trainers, technical writers, pedagogues, industry and academia alike must step forward to research technology-assisted pedagogy so that they can de-privilege the paradigms that position technology itself as a solution, and move forward toward realistic and real-world expectations for instructors in technology mediated learning environments.

This qualitative case study was conducted to investigated whether selected 3rd-5th teachers in a Title 1 school increased their understanding as they described and used their pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in writing aligned with the Common Core Anchor Standards 1-6. It also examined how the teachers collaborated to advance their knowledge in the area of ELs in the classroom. Qualitative data were collected in the form of 15 participant interviews and 15 Learning Team Meeting (LTM) observations. The data from the interviews and observations were used to investigate how participants implemented the Common Core Anchor Standards (CCAS) 1-6 in their classrooms. The data also sought to examine how the participants’ collaboration in LTMs contributed to the selected 3rd-5th grade teachers’ PCK with respect to CCAS 1-6 and support for their English language learners (EL). The findings indicated that participants recognized various EL instructional strategies embedded in the subject matter of writing. Further, the data indicated that the dual language participants collaborated as an effective means for delivering various EL instructional strategies. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-09-29T12:32:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Nathalia Martins Melati.pdf: 3955036 bytes, checksum: 40e64456ecd4c032541c15796ba9b1f9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-29T12:32:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nathalia Martins Melati.pdf: 3955036 bytes, checksum: 40e64456ecd4c032541c15796ba9b1f9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This dissertation comprises a study linked to the Reading, Writing and Teaching of Portuguese Language research line and conducts an analysis of the writing proposal of the National High School Examination (Enem), as well as its design and fundamentals, so that it understands which way the teaching of basic components of Rhetoric in the classroom can collaborate with the work of the Portuguese Language teacher in the development of the competences evaluated by the writing test of Enem. For this, this dissertation was based on bibliographical research about Brazilian education, the notion of competence and rhetorical acts. The analysis was carried out from the rhetorical reading of Enem's writing tests from 2009 to 2016 with the purpose of drawing the profile of the speaker, the auditorium and the rhetorical genre required by the evaluation. From this conceptualization, a rhetorical exercise of text production was proposed, with an emphasis on rhetorical invention and disposition, based on the essay writing of Enem 2016. Finally, this research concludes that the teaching of basic rhetorical components can productively collaborate in for the development of the skills required by the Enem writing test. Thus, competence I is contemplated during elocution, since a discourse that respects grammatical rules has more argumentative force. Competency II is developed in so far as Rhetoric encourages the student to seek arguments in all the common places available to the speaker. Competence III is directly related to the rhetorical invention and, therefore, the rhetorical exercise in the classroom makes possible its adequate development. Likewise, competence IV is developed from the disposition exercise, since the creation of the draft of the text is fundamental to the understanding of the importance of the relation between the arguments. Finally, competence V is not fully developed through Rhetoric, but benefited, since the exercise of the production of deliberative discourse presupposes a reflection about the society in which the speaker is inserted / Esta dissertação compreende um estudo vinculado à linha de pesquisa Leitura, Escrita e Ensino de Língua Portuguesa e realiza uma análise da proposta de redação do Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (Enem), bem como da sua concepção e dos seus fundamentos, para que compreenda de que maneira o ensino dos componentes básicos da Retórica, em sala de aula, pode colaborar com o trabalho do professor de Língua Portuguesa no desenvolvimento das competências avaliadas pela prova de redação do Enem. Para tanto, esta dissertação foi embasada em pesquisa bibliográfica acerca da educação brasileira, da noção de competência e dos atos retóricos. A análise foi realizada a partir da leitura retórica das provas de redação do Enem de 2009 até 2016 com o objetivo de traçar o perfil do orador, do auditório e do gênero retórico exigidos pela avaliação. A partir dessa conceituação, foi proposto um exercício retórico de produção de texto, com ênfase na invenção e disposição retóricas, a partir da prova de redação do Enem 2016. Por fim, esta pesquisa conclui que o ensino de componentes básicos da Retórica pode colaborar de forma produtiva para o desenvolvimento das competências exigidas pela prova de redação do Enem. Dessa forma, a competência I é contemplada durante a elocução, uma vez que um discurso que respeite às regras gramaticais possui mais força argumentativa. A competência II é desenvolvida na medida em que a Retórica incentiva que o aluno busque argumentos em todos os lugares-comuns disponíveis ao orador. A competência III está diretamente relacionada à invenção retórica e, portanto, o exercício retórico em sala de aula possibilita o seu desenvolvimento adequado. Da mesma forma, a competência IV é desenvolvida a partir do exercício de disposição, uma vez que a criação do esboço do texto é fundamental para a compreensão da importância da relação entre os argumentos. Por fim, a competência V não é plenamente desenvolvida por meio da Retórica, porém beneficiada, já que o exercício de produção do discurso deliberativo pressupõe uma reflexão acerca da sociedade em que o orador está inserido

In the assessment, each student was marked by two raters, assigned at random to the student from a pool of 200 raters. These raters had undergone a series of instructional programs and training prior to the job. Each of the two raters gave seven scores to the script. As there was no minimum number of words as required in the writing assessment, a general belief would be generated that if there was insufficient content (as evidenced by a low score in "content") and poor organization (low score in "organization"), then the student would have written so few words that the chance of making mistakes in "vocabulary" (the 6th score) and in "punctuation" (the 7 th score) would be relatively small. In order to rectify the deficiency in marking, this study used three different methods to apply weights on the "vocabulary" score and on the "punctuation" score. For each method, the GENOVA program was used to calculate the reliability of the assessments. After due comparison, it was found that each of the methods used was able to raise the reliabilities of the assessments under investigation, and the most recommended method was to use students' scores in "content and in structure" as weights. / In writing assessment, there are quite a number of factors influencing the marking stability and the reliability of the assessment such as the attitude towards marking and consistency of markers, the physical environment, the design of the items, and marking rubrics. Even the methods to train markers have effects on the reliability of the assessment. Generalizability Theory was used in this research to analyze the Chinese writing assessment of the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) so as to improve the reliability of the assessment. / On the one hand, the study has examined the present mode of marking of the writing assessment in the TSA. This gives opportunity for improving the item-setting and the script-marking procedures of the assessment with a view to raising its reliability and giving valuable feedbacks to teaching and learning. On the other hand, the favourable results of applying weights to sub-scores will serve to provide a good example on improving marking rubrics in large-scale standardized tests of writing assessment in Chinese Language. vi / This study was a post-mortem analysis of the raw scores from a sample of 6,000 students who participated in TSA 2006. As there were three sub-papers, the sample consisted of 2,000 students from each sub-paper. Brennan's GENOVA program (1983) was used to calculate the reliabilities of the assessments. / TSA is a standardized test administered centrally by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority every year. The target groups are students from Primary 3, Primary 6 and Secondary 3. TSA focuses on assessing students' basic competency on the three core subjects, Chinese Language, English Language and Mathematics. In contrast to the traditional Chinese writing assessment, there was no requirement on the minimum number of words produced by the student. An analytical approach was adopted to assess students' writing tasks. As a result of this measure, students who did well in some particular marking criteria would end up with a good overall performance. / 林玲芝. / Adviser: Kit Tai Hau. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-02, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-98). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Lin Lingzhi.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education