Using queer and Afrofuturist frameworks, this Black feminist qualitative study explored queer Black pre-and in-service teachers' cultural and intersectional practices as they navigated traditional heteronormative educational spaces. This research study relied on counternarratives and storytelling and drew from Afrofuturism to understand the use of their lived experiences to counter monolithic queer narratives. The queer Black teachers in this study examined and negotiated how their Blackness and queerness showed up in teacher preparation programs (TPP) and K-12 classrooms. Moreover, they eventually refused to hide or censure their authentic selves. An analysis of the narratives and counternarratives showed that queer Black teachers drew from ancestral traditions to create queer Afrofuturist spaces in TPPs and educational places. Furthermore, due to their queer Black intersectional approaches, their classrooms, assignments, curriculum, and pedagogy disrupted normative teaching practices. Implications, recommendations, and future research are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction / Debbie K. Mercer / This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of two elementary pre-service teachers in a Mid-western rural university in an attempt to heighten the quality and depth of those experiences as they pertain to pre-service teacher preparation prior to student teaching. The study analyzed the pre-service teachers’ descriptions of their lived experiences in elementary schools during internship experiences and how those experiences contributed to their personal growth as educators. Flick’s (2009) recommendations for phenomenological data analysis of personal journals and face-to-face interviews was used as a methodological framework for exploration of the two pre-service teachers’ lived experiences while Van Manen’s (1990) journal and interview methodologies were used for data collection. The findings were represented in thematic format and revealed transformational learning experiences for both participants. The six phenomenological themes captured the essences of teacher and student relationships and how classroom experiences contributed to personal learning opportunities for the pre-service teachers. Moreover, the findings of this study bolstered the necessity for pre-service teachers to reflect upon and evaluate interpersonal and intrapersonal lived experiences as they relate to the basic tenets of phenomenology in order to gain a fuller appreciation for how lived experiences of pre-service teachers, and their students, contribute to professional growth and improved decision-making skills. This study argues for a more attuned investigation of the basic tenets of phenomenology to increase student achievement through improved teacher and student relationships, and to enhance pre-service teachers’ personal and professional learning.

This dissertation entailed a qualitative case study on the confluence of technology and social studies in fostering a constructivist education. Through the examination of pre-service social studies teachers’ understanding of the online primary source resources (OPSR), three themes emerged. The first exposed the fragmented understanding of important pedagogical theories of constructivism and historical thinking among participants; the second suggested that OPSR was mostly valued by pre-service teachers for its provision of primary sources; and the third related to how pre-service teachers viewed the current state of technology and context as problematic for technology integration. Accordingly, four findings were revealed. First, the pre-service teachers in the study demonstrated a limited understanding of the application of foundational theories central to their field of study; second, there were instances of deeper appreciation of the potential of OPSR, indicating that pre-service teachers’ theoretical understanding is ix nascent and may deepen overtime; third, the full potential of technologies such as OPSR was not recognized; and fourth, the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of school and educational system conditions tended to negatively influence their views toward the integration of technology into their teaching practices. Implications indicate that first, foundational pedagogical theories are critical with regard to technology integration in education and as such teacher preparation programs must not assume what is taught is what is learned; second, instances of deeper understanding among pre-service teachers only appeared during the application of their theoretical understandings; third, context is critical in how OPSR would be used in classrooms and such contextual issues must not be ignored by teacher preparation programs; and fourth, teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (PCK/TPCK) is critical in the integration of technology in education. / text

本研究探討韓國中等學校職前師資培育制度內容並進一步展望未來發展。本研究所獲得之主要結論如下： 目前，韓國的師資培育課程，可大分為師範學院課程和非師範學院課程。師範院校的課程有國立和私立師範學院之分；非師範學院課程有普通大學的教職課程和教育系及教育研究所課程。透過這樣的多元和開放性的師資培育，來充足教師的來源。但是，在課程設置和管理上，只是讓學生能獲得教育職業科目的資格，就連師範校院也出現了與普通大學相似的傾向。引導學生研究教育和改善教學方法不夠，應須提高師資的品質。 因此韓國係以所修課程及學分數作為專業科目（即任教科目）的認定標準。另外韓國的中等學校教師的資格係採兩分級制，獲得一級正教師資格者為，基礎學歷需有碩士學位。二級正教師資格者為，基礎學歷獲有學士學位。 依據研究結論，本研究提出以下建議。 1. 建立完善的教師資格檢定制度。 2. 建立師資培育機構、學校、社區密切合作的制度。 3. 在韓國中等學校職前師資培育階段中應需較長之教育實習時間。 基於以上的研究對於教育行政機關、大學校院、及中等學校、未來後續研究提出建議，俾供兩國建構師資培育制度之參考。 / The purpose of this research was to study pre-service education system of Korean and secondary school Teachers. The conclusions and implications of the present study are summarized below: The training curricula for Korean teachers can be divided into two parts; One is the curricula for normal universities and the other is for non–normal universities. The courses for normal universities are separately designed for national normal universities and private normal universities. And those for non-normal universities are for general universities and the department of education and graduate institute of education. The diversity and open teacher educational system can suffice the need for teachers. However, as far as curriculum designing and curriculum management , it can only help students obtain teacher’s certificates. This even happens to students in normal universities. The problem arise because the system is lacking in guiding students how to study education and optimize teaching methods. The system should enhance the quality of teacher training. The number of credit points one obtains serves as criterion for professional curriculum. Moreover, teachers in secondary education can gain two kinds of certificates. Teachers who have a master degree can receive “The firth grad teacher’s license ” and those who have a bachelor degree can obtain “The second grad teacher’s license ”. Suggestion of some ideas to improve the teacher education areas follows: 1. To establish complete certain of the teachers rating system. 2. To establish teacher education system, the secondary schools and community which are closely related to one another. 3. More time is needed for practicing teachers in Korea. According to the conclusion of this study, I hope it will be some help to the construct of secondary school teachers education system. Moreover, the study gives some suggestions to the educational administration, unive rsities , secondary schools, and the further study.

This dissertation study examines the experiences of four Latina/o pre-service teachers (PSTs) as they learn about teaching mathematics for understanding (TM4U) and integrating a child's out-of-school mathematical knowledge and experiences during instruction. Studying the knowledge and experiences of Latina/o PSTs is necessary because PSTs from minoritized backgrounds have particular insights about teaching diverse students that can inform the learning experiences of other PSTs. This study investigates the prior experiences and beliefs about mathematics instruction the Latina/o PSTs (and those from minoritized backgrounds) bring as they begin their mathematics methods semester and how they leverage their experiences as they learn to teach mathematics to diverse students. Teaching mathematics for understanding is one way that teachers can support children's understanding of mathematics (Kilpatrick et al 2001). Teachers who integrate children's out-of-school mathematical knowledge and experiences in their practice draws upon multiple existing frameworks--the basic premise being that children come to school with mathematical knowledge and experiences that helps them learn mathematics in school (Gonzalez, Andrade, Civil, & Moll, 2001; Greer, Mukhopadhyay, Powell, & Nelson-Barber, 2009). My study looks at the experiences of Latina/o PSTs as they learn to help children leverage their out-of-school knowledge and experiences to understand mathematics. Data sources included four individual interviews, relevant methods assignments and audio transcripts from methods course discussions, and observational notes from the PSTs' field experience classrooms. The study found that PSTs leveraged their prior experiences as English Language Learners to support linguistically diverse children learn mathematics. Based on their prior experiences, some of the PSTs were more sensitive to the needs of marginalized children learning mathematics. The study found that the PSTs leveraged their experiences as diverse learners to think about the ways teachers could connect in-school mathematics to children's out-of-school mathematical knowledge and experiences. Yet the findings suggest that PSTs still need more experience articulating how exactly children's out-of-school experiences can help children understand mathematics. Implications of this study speak to how the beliefs and prior experiences of PSTs from minoritized backgrounds can inform how future teachers are prepared to teach mathematics to diverse students.

This study explored the transformation of a teacher’s math identity. The researcher used narrative inquiry to live alongside the participant (Clandinin, 2013) as she experienced teaching in a pedagogically courageous way to make math meaningful to her students. Along the way the participant experienced cognitive dissonance but through intense collaborative professional reflection she persevered and evolved. The study addressed the questions: What factors influence a teacher’s motivation to grow and to make math meaningful to their students? What factors influence a teacher to commit to lifelong learning in math? Four themes emerged through the observations, journals, and reflective conversations including sharing of interim texts and the final narrative. The importance of the relationship with the researcher/coach, the trust that the participant had in the coach, the process, and herself, her desire for balance in her teaching life, and her improved sense efficacy led to her transformed math identity. / February 2017

Culturally responsive education has been an actual topic in teacher education for decades, but most teachers still finish their education without appropriate knowledge and skills for teaching in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. Providing quality education to diverse learners remains a challenge, particularly in the fields of mathematics and sciences. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to describe intervention programs preparing in-service and pre-service math and science teachers for teaching in culturally diverse classrooms, and the outcomes of such programs. A search for scholarly journals evaluating such intervention programs has been carried out in several databases, resulting in nine articles included in the analysis. Intervention programs described in these articles covered several important aspects of culturally relevant education and had a limited success in developing cultural responsiveness of teachers. The construct of culturally relevant education is complex and multi-layered, and thus hard to measure without simplifying it to measurable constructs. Limitations of the study and implications for the future research and practice are discussed.

This mixed-methods study examined teachers' culturally responsive teaching (CRT) self-efficacy beliefs and the relationships among selected academic, demographic, and experiential factors. Guided by theoretical and empirical research on CRT, teacher dispositions, and assessment in teacher education (TE) programs for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, this study utilized an extended version of Siwatu's 2007 Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy (CRTSE) Scale to conduct correlational and comparative statistical analyses. Data sources included surveys from 265 participants enrolled in TE classes in the spring 2012 in Texas (one private and one public university). Content analyses were also conducted on participants' descriptions of CRT activities using a priori and inductive coding methods to triangulate and elaborate the explanation of quantitative results. In this population, those with higher CRTSE were typically young (undergraduates), specializing in ESL and bilingual certification coursework, who felt their TE program prepared them well for working with CLD student populations. Regression analyses showed that certain certification areas (ESL, bilingual, elementary, and advanced) and perceptions of better quality in TE program preparation for working with CLD students emerged as significant predictors of increased CRTSE. Those with second language skills were more efficacious in delivering linguistically-responsive instruction, and those professing more experiences with and interest in diverse individuals felt more confident in applying CRT skills. While the younger teacher candidates felt more efficacious, their descriptions of CRT were less sophisticated than those with more teaching experience. Despite much of the literature relating to CRT and minority teachers, ethnicity was not a significant factor in heightened CRTSE. This study informs TE programs for better measuring and supporting teacher candidate CRT development by revising and extending Siwatu's 2007 study in three ways. First, the CRTSE Scale instrument was extended to include items that address greater depth and breadth of the culturally responsive teaching continuum as developed by the researcher, relating particularly to language and literacy development of English language learners. Second, this study involved a more varied and appropriate population, including both pre-service and in-service teachers. Third, specific participant factors were analyzed to see which correlated with higher CRTSE Scale scores.

This study takes a particular look at mathematics teacher education communities of practice (CoPs) in order to provide rich descriptions of the CoPs and make claims about its relation/in relation to teacher preparation and particularly the preparation of preservice teachers for teaching mathematics in multilingual classrooms. The three dimensions of communities of practice proposed by Wenger (mutual engagement, shared repertoire and joint enterprise) were used in conjunction with Mortimer and Scott’s notion of meaning making as a dialogic process as a theoretical lens to gain an entry into the nature of communities of practice in pre-service mathematics teacher education classrooms. Data was collected through pre-observation interviews of 12 teacher educators at four Universities in one Province in South Africa in Phase One of the study. A methodological approach based on Wenger’s CoP theory and Mortimer and Scott’s dialogic process was developed and used to analyse classroom observation videos of four of these teacher educators’ classroom communities of practice in two universities in Phase Two of the study. Using the privileged practices in the CoPs as points of departure and how these practices shaped and were shaped by other dynamics in the CoPs, the findings emerging from the study indicate that within the multiply layers of teacher education, there is an overarching emphasis given to the acquisition of mathematical content. Nevertheless, the communicative approaches and patterns of discourse used by the different teacher educators opened up different possibilities as far as preparing preservice teachers for teaching (in multilingual classrooms) is concerned. Wenger’s community of practice theory has found applications in different spheres of life and in different organisational and educational settings. Its use to understand and describe mathematics pre-service classrooms is, however, still largely unexplored. A theoretical contribution that this study makes lies in the extension of Wenger’s CoP theory to include dialogic processes. A methodological contribution lies in the development of an organisational language (based on Wenger’s three dimensions of CoP) to characterise pre-service teacher education classrooms.

Orientador: Douglas Altamiro Consolo / Banca: Matilde Virginia Ricardi Scaramucci / Banca: Vera Lúcia Teixeira da Silva / Banca: Solange Aranha / Banca: Suzi Marques Spatti Cavalari / Resumo: Este estudo teve por objetivo analisar a competência lexical na produção oral em inglês como língua estrangeira (ILE) de um grupo de formandos em Letras, tanto em sala de aula como em situações de avaliação. Pretende-se oferecer um panorama da proficiência oral desses futuros professores, com foco no vocabulário, por meio de instrumentos de avaliação da proficiência oral utilizados tanto em situação de sala de aula como em situação de avaliação, para, com base nos resultados da análise do componente lexical, contribuir para o processo de validação dos descritores de vocabulário de um teste de proficiência destinado a professores de ILE, ainda em sua fase de elaboração. Considerando-se que a avaliação de línguas, no domínio da proficiência oral, tem sido amplamente discutida na literatura internacional de Linguística Aplicada, esta pesquisa envolve questões acerca da proficiência necessária para professores de ILE, ingressantes no mercado de trabalho no contexto de ensino e aprendizagem de LE no Brasil. É sabido que o vocabulário se constitui em um dos componentes mais importantes da proficiência em língua estrangeira (STÆR, 2008), no entanto, no que concerne à competência lexical, a maioria dos estudos tem enfocado o conhecimento de vocabulário em vez de seu uso produtivo (HILTON, 2008). Além disso, pouco se sabe sobre a verdadeira relação entre a produção oral de vocabulário e os níveis de proficiência adotados na avaliação de proficiência oral. Diante desta questão, esta pesquisa, realizada em uma universidade estadual paulista, almeja investigar a competência lexical com base na linguagem produzida oralmente tanto em sala de aula como em situações de avaliação. Uma vez que os testes orais dos consagrados exames FCE e IELTS consideram as várias... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The purpose of this study is to discuss the process of assessing vocabulary oral production in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) of students graduating from English Language and Literature BA courses (henceforth Letters courses). It aimed to analyze students‟ oral proficiency based on vocabulary use, in class and in oral test situations, in order to contribute for the validation of the vocabulary descriptors, based on the results from vocabulary analysis of an oral proficiency test which is still being designed and implemented as a test for teachers. Assuming that the assessment of specific language areas within the domain of oral language proficiency has been discussed in a number of studies from the international literature in the field of Applied Linguistics, this research study addresses the issues regarding the proficiency required for pre-service teachers who are preparing to enter the field of ELT in Brazil. In view of vocabulary, assumed as one of the most important components of foreign language proficiency (STÆR, 2008), most studies have focused on vocabulary knowledge rather than on the productive use of vocabulary when it comes to lexical proficiency (HILTON, 2008) and little is known about the actual relationship between vocabulary oral production and speaking proficiency levels. Based on this rationale, this study was carried out in a pre-service teacher education course at a public university in Sao Paulo state and aims at investigating the process of oral production and assessment of the lexical component in class and in oral test situations. Once the oral tests of the high stakes exams FCE and IELTS reflect a view of speaking ability which involves multiple competencies, lexical proficiency was assessed by means of two mock speaking FCE tests, two IELTS mock tests of the speaking... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor