Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This dissertation examines perceptions of purpose in family foundations and the impact of differences in those perceptions on family foundation board composition/function and on grant making activities. One of the primary decisions facing the donor who creates a private foundation relates to governance. Here, the donor arguably faces a deeply personal choice: to what extent should the donor’s family be involved? Related to this choice is the question of the degree of focus on the mission-related aspects of the organization or the family-related aspects of the organization. This dissertation explores whether family foundation trustees view family purposes and social impact purposes as meaningful for the foundation they represent and whether trustees differ with regard to the degree to which they emphasize one or the other. If family foundation trustees do meaningfully differ in this regard, what difference does an emphasis on family or social impact purposes make on board composition, grant making focus and stability, similarity to one’s peers, and other factors? Through a combination of survey, interview, and review of publicly available material, this dissertation explores this question for a sample of family foundation trustees in two Midwestern states.

This thesis deals with the use of inquiry-based approaches in primary school science. The aim is to investigate the goals and purposes that are constituted by the curriculum and by the teachers in interviews and through their teaching in the classroom. The results are used to develop conceptual tools that can be used by teachers’ in their work to support students’ learning of science when using an inquiry-based approach. The thesis is comprised of four papers. In paper one a comparative analysis is made of five Swedish national curricula for compulsory school regarding what students should learn about scientific inquiry. In paper two 20 teachers were interviewed about their own teaching using inquiry. Classroom interactions were filmed and analyzed in papers three and four, which examine how primary teachers use the various activities and purposes of the inquiry classroom to support learning progressions in science. The results of paper one show how the emphasis within and between the two goals of learning to carry out investigations and learning about the nature of science shifted and changed over time in the different curricula. Paper two describes the selective traditions and qualities that were emphasized in the teachers’ accounts of their own teaching. The results of papers three and four show how students need to be involved in the proximate and ultimate purposes of the teaching activities for progression to happen. The ultimate purposes are the scientific purposes for the lesson (as given by the teacher or by the curriculum), whereas the proximate purposes are the more student-centered purposes that through different activities should allow the students to relate their own experiences and language to the ultimate purpose. The results show the importance of proximate purposes working as ends-in-view in the sense of John Dewey, meaning that the students see the goal of the activity and that they are able to relate to their experiences and familiar language. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: In press. Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

This thesis deals with the use of inquiry-based approaches in primary school science. The aim is to investigate the goals and purposes that are constituted by the curriculum and by the teachers in interviews and through their teaching in the classroom. The results are used to develop conceptual tools that can be used by teachers’ in their work to support students’ learning of science when using an inquiry-based approach. The thesis is comprised of four papers. In paper one a comparative analysis is made of five Swedish national curricula for compulsory school regarding what students should learn about scientific inquiry. In paper two 20 teachers were interviewed about their own teaching using inquiry. Classroom interactions were filmed and analyzed in papers three and four, which examine how primary teachers use the various activities and purposes of the inquiry classroom to support learning progressions in science. The results of paper one show how the emphasis within and between the two goals of learning to carry out investigations and learning about the nature of science shifted and changed over time in the different curricula. Paper two describes the selective traditions and qualities that were emphasized in the teachers’ accounts of their own teaching. The results of papers three and four show how students need to be involved in the proximate and ultimate purposes of the teaching activities for progression to happen. The ultimate purposes are the scientific purposes for the lesson (as given by the teacher or by the curriculum), whereas the proximate purposes are the more student-centered purposes that through different activities should allow the students to relate their own experiences and language to the ultimate purpose. The results show the importance of proximate purposes working as ends-in-viewin the sense of John Dewey, meaning that the students see the goal of the activity and that they are able to relate to their experiences and familiar language. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: In press. Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

This descriptive, non-experimental, quantitative study was designed to answer the broad question, “What do grades mean?” Core academic subject middle school teachers from one large, suburban school district in Virginia were administered an electronic survey that asked them to report on aspects of their grading practices and assessment methods for one class taught during the 2008-2009 school year. The survey addressed the following topics: 1) primary purposes for grades, 2) attitudes toward grading, 3) assessment method, and 4) grading practices. Additionally, the study examined the relationship between teachers’ reported assessment and grading methods and student achievement. Overall results and results disaggregated by subject area, grade level, and student ability level suggest that teachers are consistent in what they consider the primary purposes for grades. The vast majority indicated that grades should communicate student levels of mastery of content and skills. However, sizable percentages of teachers reported that they also considered non-academic indicators such as effort, attendance, and paying attention in class when determining student grades, suggesting a lack of alignment between their reported beliefs and practice. The study examined the extent to which teachers’ reported grading and assessment practices were consistent with those recommended in the literature on measurement and assessment. The study findings are consistent with those of findings from previous studies suggesting that teachers engage in “hodgepodge grading,” a practice which incorporates non-academic factors into student grades. The results also show that teachers use a variety of assessment methods and types of questions when measuring student achievement. The results indicate that projects, student exhibits, essays, inclusion of zeros, and extra credit were associated with higher levels of student achievement. Conversely, norm-referencing, classwork, participation, and matching were negatively correlated with student grades and test scores.

The study aims to investigate the effect of airline one-year placement experience on Taiwanese students’ development and acquisition of L2 pragmatic competence focusing on their English speech act behaviours. 50 subjects participated in this study, including 10 airline staff and 40 hospitality university students. Two instruments - the Discourse Completion Test and the Focus Group Interview were used to elicit the request strategies from three research groups for analysis. The results of the study demonstrated that exposure to the target speech community specifically a year-long airport placement is relatively influential for the pragmatic development of Taiwanese hospitality university students. The findings in this study also showed that there is a positive relationship between linguistic proficiency and pragmatic ability. It is observed that the participants with better performance in the linguistic and grammatical knowledge tend to show equivalent pragmatic development more than the participants with lower proficiency. The study is believed to significantly contribute in three directions. Firstly, the findings of this study provide valuable data for the development of pragmatic competence in airline English learning. An overall review of the relevant literature shows that there are no studies until now that have explored the effects of airline placement on the pragmatic development of Taiwanese hospitality university students in terms of their English request realisation. Secondly, the results of the study can serve as important practical evidence and can provide guidelines for airline English instructors to start considering how to integrate effective instruction with intercultural pragmatic learning in their teaching materials and curriculum design in order to assist Taiwanese hospitality university students to acquire the pragmatic and social cultural abilities to meet the airline workplace language requirement in the future. Thirdly, the results of the study also revealed information about the pragmatic performance of Taiwanese ground staff; senior employees and supervisors. Therefore, it is hoped that the results of the study can raise the awareness of both English course planners and administrators in Taiwanese airlines to develop appropriate airline English courses for ground staff in order to improve ground staff’s English communication competence when dealing with passengers and also reach the standard of good service quality.

Two surveys were conducted at the University of Canberra in 1992 to seek the views of faculty on issues regarding academic writing. The first survey sought to ascertain what criteria faculty employ when marking student writing. It asked faculty to indicate the importance of certain key features in the writing of university students. These key features were: Content, Argument, Style, Organisation, Communicative Ability, Vocabulary, Use of Literature and Punctuation. Faculty were requested to rank the importance of aspects of each of the nine key features. The second survey asked faculty to assess an actual assignment written by an overseas student, using the structure of the nine key features of writing as above. Faculty were invited to indicate the strengths and weaknesses of the assignment which they were assessing. The aim of the surveys was to better inform teachers of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes, who prepare overseas students for study at university. EAP teachers need to know the expectations of faculty, in order to give overseas students a realistic view of what faculty expect from their assignments and the kinds of. weaknesses which faculty find in overseas students' writing. The survey found that content-related features such as Content, Argument, Organisation and Communicative Ability were considered more important than form features such as Punctuation, Grammar, Style and Vocabulary. Use of Literature was found to be a very important feature in some faculties but not in all. Surprisingly, Style was the feature which evoked the greatest variety of responses from faculty; however, in general faculty agreed that Style had to be appropriate to the topic or task, rather than there being a set format for academic writing. From a factor analysis of data, four underlying principles for academic writing were derived. These principles were: relevance, appropriacy, accuracy and clarity. Thus, academic writing, according to the faculty surveyed, should be: 1) relevant to the topic and to the internal argument of the assigment; 2) appropriate in the style, tone and use of literature; 3) accurate in its vocabulary, grammar and referencing system. 4) clear in its argument and organisation of ideas. For the most part, faculty responded favourably to the overseas student assignments, which were assessed in the second questionnaire. Faculty indicated that the main weakness in overseas student writing was in their argument. The surveys also found differences between different Faculties in the importance they place on these key features. It was postulated that the Science Faculties (Applied Science, Environmental Design and Information Science and Engineering) would be fairly similar in their views on writing, as would the Humanities Faculties (Communication, Education and Management). This was found to be only partly true. The views of Information Science and Engineering faculty were found to be more similar in many of their attitudes to the views of the Humanities faculty. However, in some ways, their views were unique and unlike any other Faculty. In particular. Information Science and Engineering faculty place little emphasis on writing as a method of assessment and, perhaps as a consequence, even less on the use of literature in writing From the survey, it also appeared that, in general, faculty make some allowances for the fact that overseas students are L2 speakers. They tend to overlook mechanical errors so long as the content is acceptable.

Writing is one of the four macro language skills which a student of language should master. However it remains the one receiving the least attention so far in Vietnamese teaching of English. Senior students of English at a college or university are required to demonstrate in writing that they have mastered their studies; therefore, writing plays an important role in their academic success. It is noted that "learning to write fluently and expressively is the most difficult of the macroskills for all language users regardless of whether the language in question is a first, second or foreign language" (Nunan: 1989:35). Therefore, writing English, especially for academic purposes , remains difficult for Vietnamese students. Obviously, such writing, as a study skill, affects the learning process, hence, the effectiveness of the training. Writing ability in general, and EAP writing in particular, need attention right from the teacher training stage, and then at the teaching stage at schools. This study reviews the theory of writing and the teaching of writing, with strong emphasis on the writing process to identify the point where a teacher of writing should intervene to yield the optimum effect - to develop students' writing ability by developing their awareness of the strategies which can be applied to writing for academic purposes, including strategies in analysis of their own writing as both process and product. The study examines the teaching of English, writing and academic writing in the Vietnamese perspective and identifies the problems in reference to the theoretical bases in an eclectic manner. A syllabus is suggested to cater for the needs of the target population.

That this field study report has been carried out originates from the fact that urgent remedies are needed to improve ESP testing in Vietnam. This field study report consists of five chapters as follows. Chapter one gives an overall picture of language testing in Vietnam, as well as dealing with the reasons why ESP testing should be improved. Chapter two covers questions such as the terminology in assessing (evaluation, assessment, and testing), role of testing, types of language tests, and main characteristics of a good test. Chapter three considers the problems concerning ESP, for example, a definition of ESP, ESP in the teaching learning process, ESP in Vietnam as well as ESP classification. Chapter four takes into consideration such questions as the theoretical background of ESP testing, proficiency tests in ESP testing, problems in ESP testing, ESP testing in Vietnam together with comments, and suggestions for improvements. Chapter five reconfirms the aim of this field study report - to improve ESP testing in Vietnam.

Currently, several state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are using contractor test results, in conjunction with verification test results, for construction and materials acceptance purposes. While the reasons for using contractor test results for construction and materials acceptance purposes are real (essentially shortage of state DOT staff and intensive construction schedules), the practice itself has fundamental pitfalls. This research reveals the conceptual and technical pitfalls of using contractor test results for acceptance and payment purposes; identifies and ranks potential alternatives and improvements to the use of contractor test results for acceptance and payment purposes; and investigates the potential application of skip-lot sampling as a means for reducing acceptance sampling and testing for highway agencies.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva hur två företag som frångått den traditionella budgetprocessen arbetar med sin ekonomistyrning samt vilka verktyg de använder för att uppfylla budgetens syften. Utöver detta undersöks även vilka förutsättningar som krävs för att kunna arbeta budgetlöst. Datainsamlingen skedde genom granskning av litteratur samt en kvalitativ fallstudie. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes på två företag, Ahlsell och Ikea. Empirin analyserades med hjälp av en deduktiv metod.   Vår slutsats är att det är möjligt att fylla budgetens syften även vid budgetlös styrning. Detta förutsätter dock en ledning som vågar delegera ansvaret nedåt i organisationen. Denna decentraliserade organisation bör dessutom bestå av relativt likartade enheter som med hjälp av nyckeltal och benchmarking kan jämföras med varandra. Utöver det behövs ett öppet och snabbt informationssystem för att skapa helhetssyn av den decentraliserade verksamheten.  Vi har även kunnat konstatera att budgetlös styrning inte lämpar sig för alla typer av företag. Dock borde företagsledare se över sin budgetprocess. Det är möjligt att det finns inslag från den budgetlösa styrningen som skulle kunna bidra till en effektivare ekonomistyrning. / The purpose of this essay is to describe how two companies that abandoned the traditional budget work with their financial control, and which instruments they use to fulfill the purposes of budget. In addition, the requirements needed to work Beyond Budgeting are examined.   Data was collected by literature reviewing and qualitative case study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at two companies, Ahlsell and Ikea. Empirical data was analyzed using a deductive method.     The result of this study shows that it is possible to fulfill the purposes of budget even when using Beyond Budgeting. However, this requires a management that dares to delegate responsibility down the organizational chain. This decentralized organization should consist of relatively homogeneous units, which can be compared with KPIs and benchmarking. In addition to this, a transparent and rapid system of information is necessary to create a holistic view.   Beyond Budgeting is not suitable for all kinds of organizations. However, the managers should review their budget process. It is possible that there are elements from Beyond Budgeting that could contribute to more effective management control.