The problem with which this investigation was concerned is that of determining whether remedial mathematics students who receive individualized attention in small groups with many special materials would gain more knowledge in the areas of computation, concepts, problem solving, and total composite mathematics than would remedial mathematics students taught as sub-groups of regular mathematics classes.

In this thesis, I analyse apologies produced by British political figures from a pragmatic perspective. In particular, I seek to explain the function of political apologies and describe the form they take. In order to give a thorough account of the speech act of apologising in the public sphere, I look to a variety of genres for data. The set of remedial acts scrutinised in this study come from debates and statements in the House of Commons, the Leveson Inquiry and news interviews. The differences in communicative practices between these data sources mean that the types of apology that come about within each genre are varied. Many of the parliamentary apologies are monologic, whereas the apologetic actions found at the Leveson Inquiry and in news interviews are dialogic and, to some extent, co-constructed between participants. These differences mean that a variety of theoretical approaches are taken in analysing the data – speech act theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) and generalised conversational implicature theory (Levinson,2000) feature heavily in the discussion of monologic apologies. Apologies produced within an interactive, ‘conversational’ setting are treated using developments in conversation analysis (amongst others see: Sacks, 1992; Schegloff, 2007). I attempt to reconcile these two, quite different, approaches to discourse at various points in the thesis, arguing that conversation analysis lacks a theory of how interlocutors understand what actions are happening in interaction (and this is provided by speech act theory) and speech act theory lacks a detailed focus on what actually happens in language as interaction (provided by conversation analysis). On the basis of the apology data scrutinised in the thesis, I propose a set of felicity conditions for the speech act of apology (chapter 2) and discuss how the apology (and speech acts broadly) should be considered as prototype entities (chapter 8). I show that when apologising for actions which they have committed, politicians are more fulsome in their apologies than we are in everyday conversation. I also show that they use more explicit apology tokens than is found in quotidian talk (chapter 3). When apologising for historical wrongs, I demonstrate that apologising is a backgrounded act and the focus of the statement is on being clear and unequivocal about the nature of the offences for which the government is apologising (chapter 6). I also argue that political apologies in interactive settings are best thought of as action chains (Pomerantz, 1978). That is to say, apologies in these environments may elicit a response from an interlocutor, but do not need to (chapters 4 & 5). This is quite unlike everyday talk (cf Robinson, 2004). I discuss how apology tokens may be used in the performance of other acts, including introducing dissent and undertaking serious face threat. I suggest that this comes about because apology tokens exist on a cline of pragmaticalisation (chapter 7).

No description available.

Reading Recovery is a relatively new program in California as it was only introduced in 1991-1992 school year. Its growth in the last four years has been gratifying, but still there are many who do not know what Reading Recovery is and how it is different from the other programs that have been used to help children who are at risk. By design, Reading Recovery fits into an educational system and is meant to be something that children get in addition to their classroom learning. Each player in the educational system can contribute a part in the success of this program. For this reason, this media project was created.

It was the purpose of this study to develop and examine a pilot program relating reading instruction specifically to course content and to collect data for seeking answers to the following questions: Can the general reading ability of disabled readers who are considered slow learners be significantly improved by a program emphasizing the development of reading skills in relation to content in two required courses in the ninth grade? What areas of general reading ability, if any, can be improved by such a program? Can specific reading skills be improved by such a program? Which students, if any, benefit more from such a program? What modifications in (1) staff utilization, (2) classroom procedures, (3) teaching techniques, and (4) texts and other materials are necessary to develop such a program?

This study was designed to discover if results from the summer remedial reading program carry over into the following school year. The design intended (1) to show whether skills taught in the summer classes are retained, and (2) to measure the amounts and some of the kinds of retention throughout the following school year.

For twenty-six years the writer has been teaching in the elementary and secondary schools. Here she found one of the most important, as well as one of the most perplexing, problems to be that of teaching the slow-learning child to read to the best of his ability. The problem is serious at all levels, but it is at the secondary level that it becomes more apparent and more serious, particularly so in many secondary schools whose curriculums have not been adjusted to meet the needs and abilities of this slow-learning individual. It is because of experience with this problem and the importance attached to it by authorities in the field of education that the writer has made this study. / Typescript. / "August, 1952." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Robert C. Moon, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-50).

We place deficit-model labels on students who fall behind educational expectations and standards. Public discourses about underserved students pervade U.S-American politics and popular culture and tend to portray these students in a negative light. This study aims to uncover similarities between the dominant societal narratives about underserved students and the stories they tell about themselves on social media. I argue that the labels we use and stories we tell about underserved students affect the students’ identities. I ask three research questions: How, if at all, do underserved college students replicate dominant narratives about education in their self-narrations? How, if at all, do students enrolled in developmental education describe other underserved students? How, if at all, do former underserved college students replicate dominant narratives about education in their self-narrations? I analyzed posts from thirty underserved students on social media sites and the replies in their comments from people who have completed developmental education. I used a combination of critical rhetoric (McKerrow, 1989; 1993), intersubjective rhetoric (Brummett, 1976; 1982), and narrative reasoning (Fisher, 1984) to guide data collection and analysis. Results indicate that the students whose narratives appear in this study express shame and worry about taking developmental courses. Their narratives reflect dominant societal narratives about “remedial” students. The narratives analyzed for this study reflect some of the pejorative uses of the word “remedial” and the image of underserved students portrayed in the dominant societal narrative. The students express shame and worry about their futures and academic prospects. Many former underserved students shared their own stories and offered supportive messages in their replies.

This study examined differential effects of two methods of teaching selected reading skills, scanning, skimming and finding main ideas, on 28 high school graduates who were to enroll in a four-year institution of higher education in the coming fall. In addition, the attitudes of the students were monitored for change. The classroom climate was evaluated for qualitative differences between methods. One method, pluralistic, included extensive teacher-student interaction during lessons. Lesson content was delivered using a wide range of instructional strategies and materials. The alternate method, worktext, included a structured, systematic workbook. After a brief introduction, lessons were primarily conducted through independent workbook activities, keeping student-teacher interaction at a minimum. No significant differences were found for performance between instructional groups on the selected reading skills. While no group differences were apparent for attitude shifts, there were clearly positive changes in attitude for the entire sample towards reading instruction and the participants’ personal reading ability. Systematic observation of teacher's style indicated that a pupil-centered classroom climate was evident in both classrooms. Implications were drawn regarding future instructional programming for underprepared college-bound students. / Ed. D.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education