This dissertation presents an evaluation of a new method of teaching reading by means of a handbook for teachers and a workbook for children who have not learnt reading after being taught by the traditional methods in the classroom. The method uses poetry, mainly in doggerel and limerick form, assembled into a sequential and meaningful reading/spelling programme which, together with reference to phonics workbooks and reading books, trains the beginner reader up to the level of reading literacy. Research on the literature available shows that poetry has not yet been used as a total remedial programme. The efficacy of the need for remediation is examined, and remediation methods analysed for what they should include. Other avenues of remediation are explored, such as the gross and fine motor and perceptual schools of thought, and the language and auditory orientation to remediation, into which the Poetry Method neatly fits. Psychological theories - such as the behaviourist operative reward systems and the ideas of phenomenologists such as Rogers - that total healing can come about through renewed motivation and growth in self-esteem, are shown to be included in the Poetry Method.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to determine how policies regarding remedial education can influence the experiences of students who identify as low socioeconomic (SES) Native American women at a Midwestern community college. This study proposed to use interpretive policy analysis and phenomenological qualitative research to learn more about how low SES Native American women view their experiences in the classroom. An interpretive policy analysis determined how various interpretive communities understood policies, how they enacted these policies in the classroom, and how students reacted to them. For the qualitative research portion, I interviewed three low SES Native American women at a community college and three of their instructors. I found that this institution’s policies considered the cost and value of education as paramount. Subsequently, the Native American students I interviewed found themselves on the outside of the college, isolated and struggling to succeed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, August 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-125).

Thesis (M.A.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Mar. 13, 2007). "Higher Education Advising and Instruction"--T.p. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the discourses that author basic writing in Texas and question how instructors of basic writing at a community college are constructed as well as constructive through discursive practices. Elements of Critical Discourse Analysis (Luke, 1995-1996; Faircloth, 2000) were employed to analyze primary source documents, publications, presentations, meeting minutes, public forum transcripts, professional literature and policies pertaining to the practice of developmental English since the adoption of the Texas Academic Skills Program and the Texas Success Initiative. The discourses of failure, economy and science were identified as authoritative systems of conventions and norms that operate through the practice of basic writing. A Foucaultian genealogical lens was then applied both to explore the power relations and categorizations processes that undergird the material consequences (Valle, 2005) of the discourses as well as to identify how the narratives of basic writing faculty intersect with the discourses. Findings suggest that the discourses of failure, economy, and science function in a reciprocal manner to promote distorted truth claims about students and basic coursework that effectively limit possibilities for and lend to increased governmental control over the future practice of developmental education. The instructors’ stories, however, provide critical disruptions to the discourses. Viewing their alternative understandings of basic writing alongside the recurrent statements that have constructed popular understandings of developmental English, this study foregrounds the urgent need for more research from practitioners within the field and better channels of communicating their scholarship and professional experiences in the public arena. / text

Thesis (MTech (Faculty of Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-121). Also available online.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of English

Thesis (Ph. D.)--The Pennsylvania State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-129).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-139).