Magister Artium - MA / The purpose of this study was two-fold: firstly, to do a multimodal analysis of the multilingual signage, advertisements and graffiti present on different surfaces in the main business hub of a multicultural community called Wesbank, situated in the Eastern Metropole of the city of Cape Town. Signage of this nature, taken together, constitute the „linguistic landscape‟ (Gorter, 2006) of a particular space. My analysis of the signage included interviews with a number of the producers of these signs which reveal why their signs are constructed in particular ways with particular languages. Secondly, I interviewed 20 mature women from the community in order to determine their level of understanding of these signs as well as whether the linguistic landscape of the township had an impact on their levels of literacy. The existing literacy levels of the women being surveyed as well as those of the producers of the signs were also taken into account. My main analytical tools were Multimodal Discourse Analysis (Kress, 2003), applied to the signage, and a Critical Discourse style of Analysis (Willig, 1999; Pienaar and Becker, 2007), applied to the focus group and individual analysis. Basic quantitative analysis was also applied to the quantifiable questionnaire data. The overriding motivation for the study was to determine the strategies used by the women to make sense of their linguistic landscape and to examine whether there was any transportation of literacy from the signage to these women so that they could function more effectively and agentively in their own environment. This study formed part of a larger NRF-funded research project entitled Township women’s discourses and literacy resources, led by my supervisor, Prof. C. Dyers. The study revealed the interesting finding that the majority of the vendors in Wesbank, especially in terms of house shops, hairdressers and fruit and vegetable stalls, are foreigners from other parts of Africa, who rely on English as a lingua franca to advertise their wares. The signage makers had clearly put some thought into the language skills of their multilingual target market in this township, and did their best to communicate with their potential customers through the complete visual image of their signs. The overall quality of the codes displayed on the signage also revealed much about the literacy levels in the township as well as language as a local practice (Pennycook 2010). While English predominated on the signs, at times one also found the addition of Afrikaans (especially in the case of religious signage) and isiXhosa (as in one very prominent advertisement by a dentist). The study further established that the female respondents in my study, as a result of their different literacy levels, made use of both images and codes on an item of signage to interpret the message conveyed successfully. Signage without accompanying images were often ignored, or interpreted with the help of others or by using one comprehensible word to work out the rest of the sign. As has been shown by another study in the larger research project, these women displayed creativity in making sense of their linguistic landscape. The study further revealed that, as a result of frequent exposure to some words and expressions in the linguistic landscape, some of the women had become familiar with these terms and had thereby expanded their degree of text literacy. In this way, the study has contributed to our understanding of the notion of portable literacy as explored by Dyers and Slemming (2011, forthcoming).

Magister Artium - MA / The purpose of this study was two-fold: firstly, to do a multimodal analysis of the multilingual signage, advertisements and graffiti present on different surfaces in the main business hub of a multicultural community called Wesbank, situated in the Eastern Metropole of the city of Cape Town. Signage of this nature, taken together, constitute the „linguistic landscape‟ (Gorter, 2006) of a particular space. My analysis of the signage included interviews with a number of the producers of these signs which reveal why their signs are constructed in particular ways with particular languages. Secondly, I interviewed 20 mature women from the community in order to determine their level of understanding of these signs as well as whether the linguistic landscape of the township had an impact on their levels of literacy. The existing literacy levels of the women being surveyed as well as those of the producers of the signs were also taken into account.My main analytical tools were Multimodal Discourse Analysis (Kress, 2003),applied to the signage, and a Critical Discourse style of Analysis (Willig, 1999;Pienaar and Becker, 2007), applied to the focus group and individual analysis.Basic quantitative analysis was also applied to the quantifiable questionnaire data.The overriding motivation for the study was to determine the strategies used by the women to make sense of their linguistic landscape and to examine whether there was any transportation of literacy from the signage to these women so that they could function more effectively and agentively in their own environment. This study formed part of a larger NRF-funded research project entitled Township women’s discourses and literacy resources, led by my supervisor, Prof. C. Dyers.The study revealed the interesting finding that the majority of the vendors in Wesbank, especially in terms of house shops, hairdressers and fruit and vegetable stalls, are foreigners from other parts of Africa, who rely on English as a lingua franca to advertise their wares. The signage makers had clearly put some thought into the language skills of their multilingual target market in this township, and did their best to communicate with their potential customers through the complete visual image of their signs. The overall quality of the codes displayed on the signage also revealed much about the literacy levels in the township as well as language as a local practice (Pennycook 2010). While English predominated on the signs, at times one also found the addition of Afrikaans (especially in the case of religious signage) and isiXhosa (as in one very prominent advertisement by a dentist).The study further established that the female respondents in my study, as a result of their different literacy levels, made use of both images and codes on an item of signage to interpret the message conveyed successfully. Signage without accompanying images were often ignored, or interpreted with the help of others or by using one comprehensible word to work out the rest of the sign. As has been shown by another study in the larger research project, these women displayed creativity in making sense of their linguistic landscape. The study further revealed that, as a result of frequent exposure to some words and expressions in the linguistic landscape, some of the women had become familiar with these terms and had thereby expanded their degree of text literacy. In this way, the study has contributed to our understanding of the notion of portable literacy as explored by Dyers and Slemming (2011, forthcoming).

Orientador: Anna Regina Lanner de Moura / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T09:40:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nakamura_EricaMitsue_M.pdf: 1522924 bytes, checksum: 6b41f87480f7d0fe029e4186857bfe65 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: As práticas pedagógicas instituídas na cultura escolar, em sua maior parte, consideram os conceitos como algo fixo em um plano abstrato, com uma essência a ser apropriada pelos alunos de maneira gradativa. Mesmo os professores denominados polivalentes, que atuam nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental, acabam reproduzindo a disciplinarização do conhecimento, característica dos anos finais e do Ensino Médio. Desconstruir essa cultura é o objetivo da problematização indisciplinar de práticas socioculturais, inspirada na segunda fase do pensamento filosófico de Wittgenstein. O presente trabalho insere-se em um projeto didático de integração disciplinar, chamado de Projeto Integrado (PI), formado por três disciplinas do curso de Pedagogia de uma universidade pública, que tratam dos fundamentos do ensino de Ciências, de Matemática e do estágio supervisionado. Neste contexto, esta pesquisa busca compreender que usos estudantes-futuros professores fazem da problematização indisciplinar de práticas socioculturais em seus campos de estágio e/ou em uma disciplina do curso de Pedagogia; mais especificamente, que usos da relação teoria-prática são mobilizados neste contexto. O corpus da pesquisa foi constituído por meio de observação participante especialmente em uma das disciplinas (mas também em momentos coletivos do Projeto Integrado), por registros videografados das aulas, narrativas produzidas pelos estudantes e entrevistas semi-estruturadas. A análise deste corpus foi realizada tendo como inspiração as noções de terapia filosófica de Wittgenstein e de desconstrução de Derrida, compondo um movimento de terapia gramatical desconstrutiva. / Absctract: The majority of pedagogical practices instituted in the school culture considers concepts as having some kind of essence to be gradually appropriated by the students, thus becoming something fixed at an abstract level. Even polyvalent teachers, working with the first grades of elementary school, end up reproducing disciplinary knowledge, characteristic of the final grades and of high school. To deconstruct this culture is the purpose of indisciplinary problematization of sociocultural practices, inspired by the philosophical thought of Wittgenstein¿s second phase of its development. This study was developed in a didactic project involving disciplinary integration, called Projeto Integrado (Integrated Project), comprised of three disciplines of the Pedagogy course at a public university. These disciplines encompass math teaching, natural sciences teaching and supervised internship. In this context, the present research aims to comprehend which uses future teachers make of the indisciplinary problematization of sociocultural practices in their internships and/or in a discipline of Pedagogy course. More specifically, we are interested in seeing how they apply the relation theory-practice. Research corpus was constituted by participant observation especially in one of the disciplines, but also in common activities of Integrated Project, by video registers of the course, narratives written by the students and semi-structured interviews. The analysis was inspired by Wittgenstein¿s notion of philosophical therapy and Derrida¿s notion of deconstruction, resulting in a deconstructive grammar therapy. / Mestrado / Ensino de Ciencias e Matematica / Mestra em Multiunidades em Ensino de Ciências e Matemática

Letting the Body Lead is an exhibition and workshop series that focuses on embodiment in social context and invites attendees to engage with the work, both as viewers and active participants. Embodiment in social context refers to the understanding of lived experiences in the body. Within my creative practice, I explore the body's creativity, knowledge, and agency while bridging and brining together the fields of fine arts, movement-based and socially just art making. I believe in the transformative potential of how movement and contemplative practices can support a more liberated way of being both within an individual and, by extension, within broader communities and social movements.

The Republic of Moldova is a relatively new state in Eastern Europe, formed as an independent country in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union. While nation branding efforts in Moldova are still in their infancy, the country’s tensioned historical legacy, divided identity and current discursive struggles make it a valuable, albeit highly unexplored subject for nation branding research. This study draws of a transdisciplinary integrative approach to analyze the ways in which a governmental institution, Invest Moldova Agency, constructs and communicates the nation brand. The aim, as highlighted in the research question, was to identify the discourses employed by the government in the process of nation branding and their relationship to national identity, society, and social practice. Theoretically, the study is informed by Critical Discourse Analysis and Keith Dinnie’s Category flow model of nation branding. Methodologically, I use Fairclough’s three-tier CDA model, additionally employing Multimodal CDA to extend my analysis to include visual alongside textual content. The qualitative study uses Facebook posts, official documents, and an in-depth interview as data. The findings show that discursive strategies on nation branding either focus on national identity or on the practice itself, and they are consistently shaping and being shaped by social practices. Moreover, five discourse categories were identified: critical, accountability, transformative, assessment, and cultural discourses, each of them responsible for creating a specific reality.

Cities all over the world have increasingly covered the topics about sustainable development. In the recent years, the garment industry has presented responsibilities and engagements towards sustainable development. Environmental awareness has increased in most societies. There is no doubt that consumers are demanding for more sustainable measures and this increases pressure on apparel enterprises to take actions and implement policies in order to secure their business. In terms of the garment industry, there is a rise of sustainably consciousness in the past decades.This leads to the purpose of this research project, which is to identify the key factors that affect consumer attitudes and behaviour regarding sustainability issues in textile industry, with a consumer study in Hong Kong. Key objectives in this research relate to consumer awareness of sustainable development aspects in garment purchasing decisions. This is a qualitative consumer study with an exploratory approach. Hong Kong citizens who were born in the 1990s were selected to join the two focus groups. This is because this generation is consumption-oriented, and also more conscious to sustainable development. It can be concluded that numerous factors and considerations that play an essential role in consumers’ purchasing decision in garment industry. Moreover, consumers perceive that several parties are responsible for being sustainable as this has been important in this industry.

Today, there has been growing concern on how to live a life more sustainable in terms of people’s needs and consumptions, globally with no exception in Sweden. It is due to the challenges that society faces to ensure the existence of resources availability for current as well as future generation. At the same time, we are looking at an era where the advancement of technology could incentivize people to shift their consumption pattern from acquiring new products to used goods from other peers. This technology provides the possibility for peer communication and matchmaking to exchange goods from local communities to different regions within the country. This practice is widely known as the sharing economy, although many other similar terms are used by academic scholars as well as business practitioners. As of today, several studies have attempted to understand people’s motives for participating in the sharing economy practice. Nevertheless, some other aspects have not been thoroughly researched, such as the social interaction within the practice. Social interaction is perceived as one of the essential features that the sharing economy heavily relies on among the two practitioners. Hence, the main aim of this study is to understand the role of social interaction between peers while outlining the dimensions within an interaction that affects participation. Therefore, a qualitative study was adopted for this thesis by interviewing eight Swedes while observing the second-hand platforms they were exercising. In this study, we adopted the Social Practice Theory as our theoretical framework to comprehend the meaning behind the practitioners’ involvement, the competence they display, and the materials they curate within the practice. The findings of this study illustrated that social interaction was not only an essential part in the second-hand practice, but also inevitable to avoid completely. Furthermore, our empirical findings illustrated social interaction as a gateway to receive financial benefits while simultaneously offering the practitioners the possibility of manifesting their virtues through the practice. Moreover, we also discovered that social interaction was a crucial element for promoting but also preserving practice. The aspect of social interaction makes the involved practitioners need to manage the adequate know-how/understanding and competencies to get benefits from the practice, such as negotiation capability, dispute handling, risk evaluation, and managing overly apprehension. In addition, we found it beneficial to distinguish the buying practice and the selling practice as two different practices instead of a single practice.

Syftet med fallstudien är att bidra med didaktisk förståelse för relationerna mellan skrivande och andra former av kommunikation, liksom för sådana faktorer som möjliggör och/eller hindrar yngre elevers gemensamma textskapande i klassrummet. Forskningsfrågorna berör hur dialogiskt parskrivande tar form, när tre elevpar planerar och parskriver en berättelse samt hur de stödstrukturer som erbjuds fungerar för dessa elever. Elevernas samtal om texterna och textkonstruktionerna förstås i studien som beroende av de sammanhang med lärare, elever och aktiviteter i vilka de uppstår. Resultatet visar att berättelseskrivande är en komplex och mödosam process för de unga eleverna. Komplexiteten består i att hantera skrivandet utifrån att beskriva ett händelseförlopp och att samtidigt förhålla sig till sådant som att ljuda och skriva/konstruera en mening, verbalt och på digital skrivplatta. Resultatet belyser att elevernas dialoger innebär ett verbaliserande av textskapandet. Under parskrivandet synliggörs skrivprocessen såväl som berättelseskrivandets kreativa möjligheter. Elevdialogerna visar att eleverna förhandlar om – vad de ska skriva om, och hur detta ska konstrueras/transformeras skriftligt. I förhandlingarna strävar eleverna efter ömsesidighet i beslutsfattandet. Eleverna använder förutom samtal även andra semiotiska resurser, såsom sång och simultant tal, vilket visar på engagemang i textskapandet. Eleverna visar också engagemang genom att fantisera om och agera ut berättelsen muntligt på sätt som liknar barns lek, vilket leder till att den verbala berättelsen blir större än den skriftliga. Övergripande visade sig parskrivandet, inramat av lärarens instruktioner och intervenerande i skrivaktiviteterna, stötta elevernas berättelseskrivande. Eleverna stöttade varandra med sådant som att generera idéer, komma ihåg idéer, behandla berättelsens övergripande struktur samt ljudande, stavning och meningsbyggnad. Elevdialogerna visade även exempel på spänningar och motstånd och då i samtalen om innehåll och textkonstruktioner. Den slutsats som kan dras av detta är att lärare behöver ställa frågor som kan ge dem ledtrådar till hur spänningarna mellan eleverna har uppstått, för att få guidning i hur elevernas samtal och skrivande kan stöttas. / This case study examines eight-year-old students’ talk about storytelling within a Swedish primary school classroom and the subsequent meaning-making that they engage in. The study aims to establish a pedagogical understanding of the relationships between writing and other forms of communication and identify enabling and/or hindering factors in writing classes that include younger students. The research questions interrogate how dialogic co-writing develops when three students plan and co-write a story. Furthermore, the study address how the offered scaffolding functioned for these students. In terms of theory, the study draws on New Literacy Studies and dialogical learning. Students’ talk about text and text constructions are taken as situated within a social practice that is constituted by the context of teachers, students, and the enacted activities. The study is informed by action research which, among other things, entails that the lessons that were observed for this study were planned in collaboration with two teachers and the teacher-researcher. The empirical data consists of video recordings, audio recordings, photographs, and field notes. The writing activities were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, primarily with reference to transcriptions of the students’ dialogues which concerned the students’ planning and writing on digital writing pads. The results of this study reveal that story writing is a complex and demanding process for young students. The complexity consists of dealing with the act of writing in terms of describing the plot whilst simultaneously relating language sounds to letters and constructing sentences. Also, results show, that the students’ dialogues implied a verbalization of the students’ text-making. During the co-writing activity, the writing process and the creative possibilities of story writing were made visible. Furthermore, the students’ dialogues demonstrate that their collaboration was carried out through negotiations concerning What? and How? they might write and how the results of these negotiations should be transformed into text. During these negotiations, the students strove to achieve a sense of reciprocity with regards to their decisions. While negotiating, the students also used semiotic resources in addition to talk, including singing and simultaneous speech, thus revealing writing engagement. The students also showed engagement by fantasising and acting the story out verbally similar to children’s play. Consequently, this made the verbal story wider than the written one. Overall, when framed by the teacher’s instruction and intervention during the writing activities, the paired writing activities lent support to the students’ story writing. Moreover, the students supported each other in contexts where they were tasked to generate ideas, remember ideas, develop the story's overall structure, and address issues related to phonics, spelling, and sentence construction. The students’ dialogues also contained examples of tension and resistance in their interactions that dealt with the story content and text construction. One conclusion is that teachers should ask questions that can provide them with clues to the basis for the tensions and thereby guide the teacher in how to scaffold their student’s interaction and writing.

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