In this dissertation, I use a hermeneutic framework drawing on critical and postcolonial theory and interpretive inquiry (narrative analysis) to explore the postsecondary curriculum for German as a foreign language and culture (GFL) in Canada, its history, and its current manifestation, in relation to the twenty-first-century Canadians who study it. I pursue the questions, What is the GFL curriculum? How did it come about? What is it like for students? and What would curriculum innovation look like if it were based on students interests? In part one, I discuss research paradigms, the influence of hermeneutics, the research process, the role of the researcher, and my research acts. In part two, I critique the history of GFL as taught at university in Canada. In part three, I examine the subject positions that have informed that history. I find that the Canadian postsecondary GFL curriculum reflects and benefits the symbolic sociocultural position of native-speaker literary professors and not the educational needs and interests of nonnative-speaker students. The Canadian postsecondary GFL curriculum has been articulated by a cross-cultural divide and withheld knowledge. Using postcolonial perspectives, I propose the diaspora and the less native speaker as potentially counter-hegemonic positions from which to conceptualize the teachers and learners of GFL and reconstruct the curriculum. I follow these initial theoretical analyses with four narrative analyses based on interviews with four Canadian undergraduate students of GFL that explored their experiences of instructional materials, teaching approaches, and curriculum design. The narratives include an episodic account, a mock epic, a psychological case with allegorical digressions, and an allegorical tale and tell of an unrequited love, a quest, shame, and an anti-quest in order to reveal how some are failed by existing curricula and yet make progress toward their linguistic and intercultural goals. In the final chapter, I present a fictional case study of a small German program where I have attempted to rethink curriculum and instruction based on the perspectives and student experiences explored in the previous chapters. I thus offer new vantage points from which to understand the GFL curriculum and enact more constructive teaching and learning.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Graduate School of Education, Oral Roberts University, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-135).

From my position as ally to an Anishnawbe community in Northern Ontario, I explored the relationships of community members to postsecondary education. Eight current and former students, a teacher at the school and a band councilor, shared with me their experiences and their knowledge about the Community and its school system. The data revealed that in Northern Ontario, the transition from the on-reserve school system to whitestream education at any level is very difficult for Community members, and is exacerbated by family violence and tensions and a perception of lower quality teaching and resources in the community schools. Participants also chose more college programs when first entering postsecondary education, and attended the college in the nearby town most frequently. Suspicion of and isolation from the whitestream school system as a result of the impact of residential schools still exists, and continues to have an effect on community participation in education.

From my position as ally to an Anishnawbe community in Northern Ontario, I explored the relationships of community members to postsecondary education. Eight current and former students, a teacher at the school and a band councilor, shared with me their experiences and their knowledge about the Community and its school system. The data revealed that in Northern Ontario, the transition from the on-reserve school system to whitestream education at any level is very difficult for Community members, and is exacerbated by family violence and tensions and a perception of lower quality teaching and resources in the community schools. Participants also chose more college programs when first entering postsecondary education, and attended the college in the nearby town most frequently. Suspicion of and isolation from the whitestream school system as a result of the impact of residential schools still exists, and continues to have an effect on community participation in education.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 106-116).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009. / Prepared for: School of Education Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 285-302.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2009. / Adviser: Jeffrey Kaplan. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-59).

This study examined the relationships between consumer demographic/VR service variables and employment outcomes/weekly earnings/level of education for 25,218 individuals ranging from 15 to 18 years old with learning disabilities from the Rehabilitation Services Administration data in 2012. To explore predictors of employment outcomes and the level of education, the participants were randomly split for cross-validation purposes into Sample 1 and Sample 2. A separate logistic regression was run for each sample, and variables (e.g. African American, job placement, college training, and occupational training) were statistically significant in predicting successful employment outcomes. In addition, service variables including African American status, college training, and occupational training were found to be statistically significantly to predict the level of education for transition-aged youth with learning disabilities. Weekly earnings for White males and females combined were statistically higher than African American males and females combined. Suggested hypotheses and implications for practice and future research are provided. / text

Low-income students of color have the difficult task of navigating their educational pathways in an era of resegregation, where they have higher chances of being tracked to lower academic courses (Mickleson & Heath, 1999) and are more likely to attend low-performing, racially and socioeconomically isolated high schools (Orfield & Lee, 2005). Research promotes the positive educational outcomes of integrated school settings (Wells, 1995), but limited research contextualizes (Wells, 2001) the experiences of low-income students of color in these settings. In light of research on the impact of the racial and socioeconomic composition of a high school on students’ educational outcomes, this dissertation used social capital and network theory to examine how networks of opportunity in accessing postsecondary resources differed between one integrated and one high poverty, high minority high school. Interviews of students and faculty identified by students as institutional agents (Stanton-Salazar, 1997)—individuals who connect students to postsecondary resources—helped frame the two high school portraits (see Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997). Without systematic supports in both the integrated and segregated high school settings, only a select group of students were tied to resources that would lead them to their postsecondary aspirations. Students connected to postsecondary resources were at a structural advantage due to opportunities, such as enrollment in advanced placement (AP) courses, which would help broaden their networks of opportunity. In contrast, most students without the same structural advantages as high achieving students often felt lost navigating high school, disconnected from academics, and misdirected in navigating their postsecondary trajectories. Consequently, although the integrated high school was perceived as the gateway to accessing better educational opportunities, stratification occurred, tracking low-income and students of color to non-college preparatory courses. Therefore, low-income and students of color who transferred to the integrated high school in search of better educational opportunities received limited academic preparation similar to what was offered to them in their former low-performing, high poverty, high minority high school. The findings suggest that without both institutional and structural transformations and systematic supports, school integration alone is not the single element to offering greater educational opportunities to low-income and students of color. / text

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