Silence has been identified as a defining characteristic of Asian students in second language contexts. Recent qualitative studies in this area indicate that taking this as a generalisable characteristic of Asian learners may be an over-simplification. Therefore, there is a need to rethink Asian students’ silent behaviour in learning interactions. Problem-based learning (PBL) provides a high level of communicative demand; however, no in-depth qualitative work has been done to date on students’ silence in PBL tutorials in Asian contexts. Given this lack of research, this study investigates students’ silence in PBL interactions in an Asian English medium of instruction (EMI) university. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to explore the functions of silence and factors contributing to silence in PBL small group interactions. In this research, a sociocultural theoretical orientation formed the foundation for the conceptualisation of silence in situated learning. A case study was conducted to investigate the complexities and subtleties of silence in PBL interactions. The focus of the case was first year students’ experience of PBL tutorials in an undergraduate dental curriculum. A variety of data, including questionnaires, post-survey interviews, observations, audiovisual recordings, and stimulated recall interviews, were collected. Analysis of over twenty hours of PBL tutorials then drew upon traditions from interaction theories and studies of silence to provide an explanatory perspective. Thus, students’ silence in PBL interactions was examined from communicative functional and critical perspectives. From a communicative functional perspective, findings indicate that students’ silence in PBL interactions is not only a means of non-participation or an effect of possible constraints, but is also enacted as a learning and communicative strategy. Based on this understanding of silence for communication and learning, the issue of silence was further explored based on critical discourse analysis. Data analysis indicates that students’ silence occurred when multiple identities, shifting relations, and a specific learning and professional community in an Asian EMI context were constructed, challenged, and reconstructed in PBL discourse. Two key factors were found to influence students’ silence in PBL tutorials: the immediate contextual factor and the power relation. This study has theoretical and practical significance for higher education pedagogy. Findings underline the importance of investigating silence in depth in order to compose a more insightful picture of interaction in small group learning. The study also develops insights into a proposed re-conceptualisation of silence in PBL discourse and offers a novel viewpoint to locate the issue of silence in small group interactions for PBL. Lastly, based on the analysis of a substantial body of qualitative data, this study has increased understandings of student silence in PBL tutorials in an Asian EMI university. Such a study not only contributes towards theorizing silence in higher education but also provides teaching staff and education policy makers with useful information about learners in small group learning in an EMI context. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In a period of significant global scientific and technological change tertiary students need to be more adequately prepared to effectively integrate into the competitive working environments of the 21st century. For this reason, these students need to be educated to use a variety of skills such as problem-solving and teamwork to support them in their future working conditions. These skills can be acquired through the use of a range of innovative approaches. A variety of these approaches is being introduced in a range of university courses in different institutions in the western world, including problem-based learning (PBL). The problem-based learning approach is also now being introduced to more traditional learning environments in Asian institutions such as Singapore and Malaysia. My study extends this innovative pedagogical approach, exploring the implementation of a PBL approach across a number of undergraduate classes in two universities in the South of Viet nam. It also reports on the students' perspectives in learning through a PBL approach. This study examines the impact of a PBL approach when it was introduced in a range of Vietnamese undergraduate courses. A group of eleven university teachers in two universities in the South of Vietnam were approached by the investigator and agreed to be involved in the study as individual cases for investigation. The teachers implemented a PBL approach to teaching in one of their undergraduate classes. In addition, 182 students from eleven different classes where a PBL approach was implemented agreed to discuss their perceptions of this shift in their learning approach. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted with both the teachers and their students for the purpose of gathering data related to the impact of the PBL approach on the student and staff experiences. The study shows that Vietnamese teachers and students effectively adopted a PBL approach, and they commented on the worth of PBL for their teaching and learning. Both the teaching staff and students engaged willingly with the PBL approach. Although some assessment approaches were used that reflected the focus of PBL, there was still a heavy reliance on testing as the major form of assessment. The study is expected to contribute to Vietnamese education by providing an evaluation of the PBL implementation processes. The examination of all aspects of PBL implementation has the potential to provide educators with a critical analysis of the processes in order to support their understandings when making the decision to broaden the teaching and learning approaches currently used. Further, the study affirms the implementation of PBL as a significant contribution in preparing learners to negotiate complex demands of the 21st century.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008. / Principal faculty advisor: Chrystalla Mouza, School of Education. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drexel University, 2008. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-166).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2004. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-160). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2009.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (July 17, 2006) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in horticulture)--Washington State University, May 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-88).

The purpose of this study was to determine if Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is as effective an instructional method at the elementary level as traditional instruction in learning content. This study also is a contribution to the literature on PBL in the elementary classroom. The research design was quasi-experimental with a non-equivalent control group. A pilot study was conducted in science classes prior to the commencement of the research project in social studies. Eighty-eight students participated in the two studies. The control groups received instruction in a traditional format, and the experimental groups received instruction through the use of PBL. The research question dealt with whether or not PBL was as effective an instruction method as traditional instruction in student achievement. T-tests were run at the conclusion of each study to compare the means of posttest scores and presentation assessment scores. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine if the differences in means were because of treatment effect or by chance. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine if prior knowledge had an impact on the student achievement scores. After the science data were collected and analyzed, the researcher determined that there was a statistically significant difference in the student achievement scores between those involved in the PBL class and those taught traditionally on both the posttest scores and the group presentation scores. Students enrolled in the traditional class scored significantly higher than those enrolled in the PBL class. The researcher noted, however, that both groups made gains in achievement. Assumptions for normality and homogeneity for t-test, ANOVA and ANCOVA were not met for the social studies classes. Transformation of the data took place using arcsine because of a negative skew of the data. After the social studies data were collected and analyzed, the researcher determined that there was no statistically significant difference in the posttest scores for the PBL and traditional classes. The group presentation grades produced conflicting results. Transformed data indicated a significant difference in student achievement while non-transformed data indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in the scores. The researcher noted that both groups made gains in achievement.

Increasing pressure to transform teaching and learning of engineering is supported by mounting research evidence for the value of learner-centered pedagogies. Despite this evidence, engineering faculty are often unsuccessful in applying such teaching approaches often because they lack the necessary knowledge to customize these pedagogies for their unique contexts. My dissertation study investigated the challenges with facilitation practices in introductory PBL engineering courses and developed a pragmatic research-based model that provides insights aimed at improving PBL facilitation practices using the Innovation Cycle of Educational Practice and Research (ICEPR) as a lens. The ICEPR is useful for investigating connections between educational practice and research for scholarly and systematic educational innovations. I conducted a three-phase sequential study to address critical gaps in the ICEPR regarding both research on and practice of PBL facilitation in engineering. I focused on identifying challenges in practice, developing a model, and disseminating the model through a typology using multiple qualitative data collection and analysis methods. In Phase 1, I studied a new PBL implementation and identified a challenge with facilitator training specifically with regard to a lack of a pragmatic model of facilitation strategies in engineering. In Phase 2, I investigated the facilitation practices of five facilitators in an established PBL engineering course. This resulted in the Model of PBL Facilitation Strategies for Introductory Engineering Courses (PBL-FIEC), where I specifically operationalized the instructional methods constructs from Collins' Cognitive Apprenticeship Framework to describe the variety of ways instructors facilitate student learning in PBL introductory engineering courses. The PBL-FIEC includes six methods and 27 strategies ways for instructors to facilitate students' learning through providing and prompting demonstrations of cognitive and metacognitive processes that emphasize content and process knowledge and different ways of knowing (knowledge, understanding, and reasoning). In Phase 3, I developed a Typology of Facilitation Strategies using PBL-FIEC and observations of instructors to demonstrate how they use and combine facilitation methods. Ultimately, my dissertation research shows how the ICEPR can be used to understand that innovation in educational practice relies on the interaction between researchers and practitioners, while generating a model directly useful for both stakeholders. / Ph. D.