Motivation has been widely studied in the field of second language learning as one of the most important predictors of linguistic proficiency. Initial studies suggested that socio-cultural factors such as attitudes toward the target group were strongly associated with a desire to learn and the effort expended in learning the target language. Though a second wave of studies emphasized more individual contributions to learner motivation, there has recently been a return to a more contextualized view of learning and the role that motivation plays within a given social context. The present study examines the specific socio-cultural context of the Southwestern U.S. in which Anglos, the dominant socio-linguistic group, have chosen to study Spanish, a minority language. Analyses address intensity of motivation, attitudes toward Spanish and Spanish speaking populations, and motivational orientations; this study also examines issues of social distance and discusses differences in perception regarding Spain and Mexico based on self-report questionnaires from the participants involved. Results indicate that Anglo learners of Spanish are moderately motivated to learn Spanish; though they responded quite positively on items related to desired fluency, participants do not seem necessarily willing to invest the time and effort required to achieve that fluency. Findings suggest that participants have somewhat neutral attitudes toward the Spanish language and Spanish speakers. Participants seem generally positive about the need for English speakers to understand and appreciate Hispanic culture; they are more reticent, however, on issues of language learning responsibilities. It also appears that participants have slightly more negative perceptions of Mexico than of Spain. In addition, results show that motivational intensity is moderately associated with attitudes, supporting many of the initial studies of motivation in language learning that found that more positive attitudes are associated with higher levels of motivation. Although many participants responded that they were only taking Spanish courses to fulfill the language requirement, they also seemed to recognize that there were other compelling reasons to study Spanish. Participants indicated that the usefulness of Spanish was the most important reason for studying the language and that a desire to have a more personal connection with the target group and culture was the least important reason. / text

K.M. Tyler et al. (2008) propose a quantitative method to measure differences between school and home experiences had by students of ethnic minority status and how such differences (cultural discontinuity) may affect psychological factors related to student achievement. Although study of cultural discontinuity has been applied to understanding African American, Asian American, Latino American, and Native American student populations, little attention has been given to the ways in which cultural discontinuity may manifest in the Appalachian American population. This study conceptualizes the socio-cultural conditions that would warrant such an investigation, establishing evidence from ten interview subjects of the presence of cultural values associated with Appalachian Americans from Eastern Kentucky. The interviewee evidence provides a necessary starting point for investigating regional culture and marginalization effects that may occur based on membership within the Appalachian American community.

Syftet med studien är att få djupare insikt i sångpedagogers syn på Time och Sväng samt hur de didaktiskt arbetar med dessa aspekter. Det saknas mer omfattande forskning inom området. Med detta i behåll har jag för avsikt att få djupare insikt i frågeställningar som rör olika förhållningssätt till hur sångare kan öva upp Time och Sväng samt vad Time och Sväng innebär, generellt och i ett undervisningsperspektiv. Studien har som sin teoretiska utgångspunkt ett sociokulturellt perspektiv med fokus på hur människor använder olika redskap för att kommunicera med sin omgivning. För att få svar på mina frågor har använt mig av en halvstrukturerad intervjuform när jag samtalat med informanterna. Alla informanter i denna studie arbetar idag som sångpedagoger; två av dessa är mer inriktade på jazz medan de andra två är mer inriktade på populärmusik. Resultaten visar att alla informanter anser att Time och Sväng är otroligt viktigt i musik. Tillvägagångssättet för hur de hanterar Time och Sväng skiljer sig däremot något, vilket visar sig i deras användning av en variation av olika redskap för att träna, undervisa i samt lära sig Time och Sväng. / The purpose of this study is to attain a deeper insight in how vocal coaches view Time and Groove and in what way they use these aspects didactically. Extensive research in this area is lacking, only a few papers and research studies exist. With this in mind, my intention is to acquire a deeper insight in questions concerning various methods in how vocalists can develop their abilities in Time and Groove, and what Time and Groove, both generally and from an educational point of view, is. The theoretical starting point of this study is a socio-cultural perspective focused on how people use various tools to communicate. I have worked with the semi-structured interview method when speaking to the informants. The informants work as vocal teachers; two are primarily teaching jazz music, whereas the other two are more oriented towards pop music. The results demonstrate that all of the informants believe that Time and Groove in music is very important. Their approach on how to work with Time and Groove differ slightly, which can be seen in their use of a variety of tools for practicing, teaching and learning Time and Groove.

Syftet med studien var att få en djupare inblick i hur ensemblepedagoger ser på Time samt hur de didaktiskt arbetade med detta. Vi avsåg att få djupare inblick i olika förhållningssätt som ensemblepedagoger kan ha till Time i en undervisningssituation, samt vad begreppet Time innebär. Studien har sin teoretiska utgångspunkt i ett sociokulturellt perspektiv med fokus på hur människor använder olika redskap för att kommunicera med sin omgivning. Vi anser att vi har fått en bredare ingång i ämnet genom att alla pedagoger spelar olika instrument. Den gemensamma faktorn är att de undervisar i ensemble på folkhögskola. I undersökningen använder vi oss av den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun för att söka svar på våra frågor. Resultaten visar att alla pedagoger anser att god Timing är otroligt viktigt i samband med musikutövande. Redskapen och de tekniker som pedagogerna använde för att undervisa i Time, var varierande och viktiga. Det visade sig att en syn pedagogerna hade på Time var att det är kopplat till personligheten hos musiker. De ansåg det vara känsligt och svårt att gå in som pedagog och försöka ändra en elevs Time då det är så starkt kopplat till personligheten. / The purpose of this study is to acquire a better understanding of ensemble educators’ view of the concept of Time and how it was didactically applied. Our intentions were to gain a deeper insight in the different approaches in becoming a better ensemble educator regarding teaching Time, and what the concept of Time is. The study had its theoretical standpoint in a socio-cultural perspective, which focuses on how people use different tools to communicate with each other’s surroundings. In the study we used the qualitative research interview to attain the answers to our questions. The result indicates that the educators consider a good sense and feel of Time is important for musicians. The fact that the educators who participated in this study played different instruments provided a broad perspective regarding the subject. Each employed different tools and techniques which varied, yet were all important. The study indicated that, accordingly to the educators, one aspect of Time was connected to the personality of the musicians. This latter aspect helped show how sensitive and difficult it can be for an educator to change a student’s perception of Time, especially when considering the close ties between the concept of Time and the musician’s personality.

In this thesis, in which I use the stand-alone paper format, I employ a Foucauldian lens to examine Alberta’s Future Leaders (AFL), an Aboriginal youth leadership development program. In the first paper, I identify how power relations shape AFL, including its ambitions and struggles towards developing sustainable programming. In the second paper, I examine AFL’s cross-cultural approach to mentorship and the ways in which failing to address issues of culture (re)produces colonial relations of power. Overall, my findings highlight the importance of recognizing and problematizing the power relations at work within Aboriginal youth leadership development initiatives.

Background: The highly driven and often excessive exercise seen in eating disorder patients can be defined as a compulsive behaviour, and is often performed for weight control reasons, as well as for mood regulatory purposes. Compulsive exercisers often exercise in a rigid and rule-driven manner and predominantly report no enjoyment from the activity. Importantly, compulsive exercise has negative clinical implications, such as prolonging eating disorder treatment and representing a key factor in eating disorder relapse. However, despite these negative clinical implications and the large percentage of patients that may experience these harmful and detrimental behaviours, the body of literature examining the aetiology of compulsive exercise is relatively scarce and lacks a coherent theoretical underpinning. Objectives: This thesis aimed to provide the first known investigations into the possible correlates and risk factors for compulsive exercise in adolescent boys and girls. Main Findings: The key prospective predictors of compulsive exercise found in this thesis were self-perfectionism and obsessive-compulsiveness for boys. For girls, internal dysfunctional emotion regulation and a perceived media pressure to be thin were the key risk factors for compulsive exercise. Implications: The results from the thesis suggest that psychological factors are important in the development of compulsive exercise in boys, whereas in girls, a combination of dysfunctional emotion regulation and socio-cultural pressure to be thin could lead to the development of compulsive exercise cognitions and attitudes. Further research is needed to replicate and extend these results, although these thesis findings still provide useful empirical evidence to inform prevention and early intervention programmes for compulsive exercise in adolescents.

Sustainability is one of the key challenges facing society in the twenty-first century. The adoption of sustainable practices in the heritage sector resonates with its long-established objectives to conserve and enhance the historic environment, although its implementation can also present significant dilemmas for the commodification, integrity, authenticity, accessibility and viability of these resources, particularly where sites are tourist attractions. The aim of this thesis was to investigate progress in the adoption of sustainable practices in heritage properties and sites in Devon and Cornwall. The findings were based on the compilation of an inventory of selected heritage resources; an extensive questionnaire survey of managers of historic houses and castles, historic churches, and museums and archives (416 responses), which investigated the extent of, and opinions about, sustainable management approaches; and semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with eight heritage managers, which probed key issues in much greater depth. The results of the research demonstrated some similarities with the adoption of sustainable practices in other sectors, such as the practical issues associated with costs and lack of knowledge. There were also some heritage-specific issues, such as perceived conflicts with protection duties, the consequences of being largely dependent upon volunteer staffing, and the institutional role of larger parent organisations, which have been overlooked in previous research. Most significantly, the results indicated that very few heritage sites produced sufficient surpluses to facilitate investment in sustainable practices that might ultimately enhance their financial viability and fund enhanced conservation activities. Future strategies for the sector as whole must therefore not only deal with capacity-building, such as access to information and training on sector-specific sustainable management, but also address the institutional factors governing heritage in the UK, such as strategic leadership, the most effective models for governance and funding mechanisms for sustainability, and the creation of local and regional heritage networks.

This study describes the attempt to understand the quality of mediation between people within a community of practice. An innovative chefs’ apprenticeship in a dedicated restaurant provides a setting in which to explore what happens when a group of young people are learning to become fully accepted members of a community of practice. The setting, the social enterprise of Fifteen London, is founded on a passionate belief in the learning potential of all individuals, regardless of background. Conducted over a period of five years this ethnographic study tells the stories of the apprentices; the story of the community; and the story of conducting the investigation. A pilot study completed in 2005 revealed that beyond the mediation observed between individuals, apprentices’ felt their experience of the culture of the learning environment had a greater impact. The thesis explores the theoretical implications of these findings. Drawn from a sociocultural perspective, two theoretical frameworks are applied: Mediated Learning Experience (Feuerstein, Miller and Tannenbaum, 1994) concerned with the mediation between people and its effect on human development; and Situated Learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991) concerned with participation in a community of practice. These frameworks were felt to be useful to an analysis which demonstrates that a community of practice can be analysed according to the framework for Mediated Learning Experience. The symbiosis of these two approaches creates a coherent framework for discourse in which to analyse the learning process itself. A description of the community highlights the complexities of learning, and the challenges of attempting to change the course of human development by means of cultural transmission and social enterprise. I conclude that this learning environment serves as a good example of what can be achieved when innovation works hand in hand with moral purpose.

En la presente Tesis abordaré el estudio clásico de la antropología en los Andes centrales, en las comunidades campesinas. Estas instituciones que tuvieron sus orígenes en la época colonial y en la Reforma Agraria Velasquista (Guillermo Salas. 2008). Estas comunidades, en el devenir histórico, han experimentado cambios y permanencias. En estos tiempos de mayor expansión del capitalismo, las comunidades campesinas han tenido un mayor acercamiento al mercado, incluso sus propios actores (los comuneros) casi permanentemente están ligados al mercado, ofreciendo allí sus cosechas, la carne, el queso. También se les ve consumiendo productos que el mercado les ofrece. Esta articulación casi permanente y de acelerada interrelaciones sociales ha permitido cambios en los ámbitos culturales, en la organización, en las relaciones sociales. Pero así como hallamos cambios, también podemos hallar permanencias, como la reciprocidad. En función a este contexto histórico del capitalismo neoliberal que nos toca vivir y desde mi posición de ser hijo de campesinos-comuneros, me asigno la difícil tarea de abordar el estudio respecto a la reflexión de una institución muy antigua de la sociedad peruana (también estudiadas por antropólogos, sociólogos, economistas), comunidades campesinas. El tema concreto a abordar es el siguiente: la reciprocidad como una práctica socio-cultural realizada por los habitantes del caserío de Malvado1 (comunidad campesina de Pararín) en estos tiempos de la mayor expansión capitalista en su versión neoliberal. Esta práctica socio-cultural se da internamente entre comuneros del caserío, como también con los ex yanaconas3 a pesar de las diferencias de procedencia (lugar de origen) y rivalidades existentes entre ellas. Tal principio es practicado también con los parientes (consanguíneos y espirituales) de la zona alto andina de la comunidad campesina de Pararín, o con demás pobladores de los caseríos del valle Fortaleza, que también son parte de la comunidad campesina de Pararín. La reciprocidad4 en este trabajo es entendida como una correspondencia de bienes y servicios entre actores sociales (de dar y devolver), para superar necesidades básicas, como la escasez de alimentos. La práctica de la reciprocidad está basada en las relaciones de paisanaje, compadrazgo y confianza entre los actores. Los actores sociales del intercambio recíproco, no necesariamente son parientes cercanos o habitantes del mismo caserío; también puede suceder con personas foráneos. Para que se establezca este hecho, es necesaria la confianza entre los actores sociales. Lógicamente el móvil de la reciprocidad es satisfacer necesidades primordiales como de producción o de alimentación. Los problemas a plantearse en la presente tesis, son los siguientes: ¿Cuáles son las razones, por las cuales los pobladores del caserío de Malvado practican la reciprocidad en el contexto del mercado neoliberal actual?; ¿de qué modo se manifiesta la reciprocidad en el contexto de la lógica capitalista y desarrollo del mercado liberal en el caserío de Malvado?; ¿será la pobreza actual la que los ha impulsado a practicar la reciprocidad o, simplemente, será una recreación cultural?

For people in Sweden one of the favourites places to go on vacation is Spain. It is warm, inexpensive and they like Spanish culture, this helps explain why the Spanish language is so popular in schools in Sweden. To learn a foreign language means more than learning how to speak and writing, it also means learning about the culture of that language because the culture is intrinsically related to the language. Additionally, is very significant as teacher to give your students the knowledge of sociocultural of Spanish speaking countries, the knowledge of the world and in this way create multicultural students. For this reason, we decided to do a quantitative research about what sociocultural topics are thought in the classroom in Lulea (Sweden) and how teachers are developing multiculturalism in their students. As result of our work we can mention that teachers include sociocultural topics in their classes but there are certain sociocultural subjects that are not taught, we could also confirm that the textbook has many gaps in sociocultural subjects.