Recently, the numbers of Higher Education institutions that are using Web 2.0 technologies and social networking sites are increasing dramatically. These sites offer unique and diverse learning opportunities. There is evidence that a sense of community can be created online and that this community is connected with perceived learning. Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) introduced and developed the Community of Inquiry framework as a dynamic process model and a comprehensive framework to guide the research and practice of online learning communities, and to describe and measure elements supporting the development of these communities. This framework consists of three elements - social, teaching and cognitive presence - as well as categories and indicators to define each presence and guide the coding of transcripts. The categories of social presence are affective responses, open communication and group cohesion. The categories of teaching presence are instructional design and organisation, facilitating discourse and direct instruction. Previous studies suggest that a positive social climate on an online learning community is important as it can improve learning experience and cognitive presence. This study aims to explore and understand the nature of Community of Inquiry presences, in particular teaching presence and social presence. The aim of the study is to understand the influence of a different teaching presence on students’ development of social presence. This study provides a more comprehensive picture of developing students’ social presence over changing teaching presence in a social network environment in a Kuwaiti higher education context. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, the following research questions are explored: 1- How does a students’ sense of social presence change with a different teaching presence in the social network environment within a Kuwaiti higher education context? a. Does a students’ sense of social presence (affective responses, open communication and group cohesion) change as a result of a different teaching presence (facilitating discourse - direct instruction) in the social network environment in a Kuwaiti higher education context? b. Why do participants maintain or change their social presence level during the course? 2- How does the use of teaching presence promote the development of students’ social presence in a Kuwaiti higher education context within the social network environment? The study was conducted in the second semester of 2010/2011 at The Education Technology Department - The College of Basic Education - The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), within the State of Kuwait. The study was carried out on the Educational Communication module and involved 46 male participants. This study uses the equivalent of mixed methods design to answer research questions. The sequential explanatory strategy is embedded within an applied quasi-experimental approach. Quantitative data is collected and analysed, which is then followed by the collection and analysis of qualitative data. The researcher used a messages analysis and a content analysis approach to reveal the level of social presence in an online community and then develop stimulated recall interview questions. A combination of individual interviews and focus group interviews were used. Garrison et al.’s (2000) social presence coding schemes were developed to make them more suitable in the study context. Quantitative and qualitative data show that there is no significant difference between the effects of facilitating discourse and direct instruction in terms of students’ social presence level. Stimulated recall interviews reveal that most participants cannot distinguish between facilitating discourse and direct instruction. The participants believe that facilitating discourse and direct instruction are similar. The participants’ responses lead the researcher to search for other motives that could promote the development of students’ social presence in the higher education context in the social network environment. The study concludes that there are two factors that could promote the development of students’ social presence. First, instructional design and organisation, such as web design satisfaction, network effect, instructor responsiveness, the nature of the task and awarding degrees. Second, learner-specific matters, such as previous experience, peer influence, friendship, attitude, self-esteem and self-confidence and something I refer to as the Wave Effect.

A percepção gestual de três licenciandos em situações de uso de representações estruturais químicas (REQ) foi caracterizada em uma disciplina do curso de licenciatura de Metodologia de Ensino de uma universidade pública. Esta percepção foi construída a partir da análise em entrevistas de Lembrança Estimulada por Vídeo (LEV), de uma enquete e da análise de situações de sala de aula de episódios de ensino. A LEV é uma técnica de origem cognitiva que foi adaptada para o estudo em uma abordagem sociocultural. A comparação de dados nesta pesquisa empregou a multimodalidade como modelo teórico e metodológico para caracterizar as interações multimodais em sala de aula. Na categorização de episódios de ensino, adaptamos algumas categorias de Silva (2008) como as operações epistêmicas, a proxêmica e os suportes. Na análise gestual, utilizamos a categorização de Kendon (2004). A percepção gestual foi construída com categorias inspiradas no funcionalismo de Lemke (2009). Contrastamos a análise de aula com a entrevista e a enquete para validar as respostas da entrevista. Os resultados da comparação entre a percepção dos licenciandos contribuíram para diferenciar como cada sujeito identifica sua performance gestual. / The gestural perception of three pre-service teachers has been characterized when using of chemical structural representations (CSR) from public university in a course of Chemistry Teaching. This perception has been constructed with analysis of Stimulated Recall Interviews (SRI), polls and classroom analysis of teaching episodes. SRI is a technique based on cognitive approach which has adapted to sociocultural perspective. We compared data using multimodality as a theoretical methodological model to characterize multimodal interactions at classroom. In categorization of teaching episodes, we adapted some categories from Silva (2008) like epistemic operations, proxemic and media. In gestural analysis, we used Kendon (2004) categories. The gestural perception has been constructed motivate by functionalist of Lemke (2009). We contrast classroom analysis with interviews and polls to increase the reliability of answers in interviews. Results of comparative between pre-service teacher perceptions is some differences how each subject index their gestural performance.

A percepção gestual de três licenciandos em situações de uso de representações estruturais químicas (REQ) foi caracterizada em uma disciplina do curso de licenciatura de Metodologia de Ensino de uma universidade pública. Esta percepção foi construída a partir da análise em entrevistas de Lembrança Estimulada por Vídeo (LEV), de uma enquete e da análise de situações de sala de aula de episódios de ensino. A LEV é uma técnica de origem cognitiva que foi adaptada para o estudo em uma abordagem sociocultural. A comparação de dados nesta pesquisa empregou a multimodalidade como modelo teórico e metodológico para caracterizar as interações multimodais em sala de aula. Na categorização de episódios de ensino, adaptamos algumas categorias de Silva (2008) como as operações epistêmicas, a proxêmica e os suportes. Na análise gestual, utilizamos a categorização de Kendon (2004). A percepção gestual foi construída com categorias inspiradas no funcionalismo de Lemke (2009). Contrastamos a análise de aula com a entrevista e a enquete para validar as respostas da entrevista. Os resultados da comparação entre a percepção dos licenciandos contribuíram para diferenciar como cada sujeito identifica sua performance gestual. / The gestural perception of three pre-service teachers has been characterized when using of chemical structural representations (CSR) from public university in a course of Chemistry Teaching. This perception has been constructed with analysis of Stimulated Recall Interviews (SRI), polls and classroom analysis of teaching episodes. SRI is a technique based on cognitive approach which has adapted to sociocultural perspective. We compared data using multimodality as a theoretical methodological model to characterize multimodal interactions at classroom. In categorization of teaching episodes, we adapted some categories from Silva (2008) like epistemic operations, proxemic and media. In gestural analysis, we used Kendon (2004) categories. The gestural perception has been constructed motivate by functionalist of Lemke (2009). We contrast classroom analysis with interviews and polls to increase the reliability of answers in interviews. Results of comparative between pre-service teacher perceptions is some differences how each subject index their gestural performance.

<p>Keystroke logging records keyboard activity during writing. Time and position of all keystrokes are stored in a log file, which facilitates detailed analysis of all pauses, revisions and movements undertaken during writing. Keystroke logging further includes a replay function, which can be used as a tool for reflection and analysis of the writing process. During writing, writers continuously plan, transcribe, read, and revise in order to create a text that meets with their goals and intentions for the text. These activities both interact and trigger one another.</p><p>This thesis includes studies in which keystroke recordings are used as bases for visualisation of and reflection on the cognitive processes that underlie writing. The keystroke logging methodology is coupled with Geographical information systems (GIS) and stimulated recall in order to enhance the understanding of keystroke logged data as representations of interacting cognitive activities during writing. Particular attention is paid to writing revision and a taxonomy for analysis of on-line revision is proposed. In the taxonomy, revisions made at the point of inscription are introduced as ‘pre-contextual’ revisions, and highlighted as potential windows on cognitive processing during transcription. The function of pre-contextual revisions as revisions of form and concepts was ascertained in an empirical study, which also showed that 13-year-old writers revised more form and concepts at the point of inscription when they wrote in English as a foreign language (EFL) than in Swedish as a first language (L1).</p><p>In this thesis, a learning method, Peer-based intervention (PBI), is introduced and examined through case studies and statistical analysis. PBI is based on theories about cognitive capacity, noticing, individual-based learning and social interaction. In PBI, the keystroke-logging replay facility is used as a tool for reflection on and discussion of keystroke logged data, i.e. representations of cognitive processes active during writing. In the studies presented in this thesis, teen-aged and adult writers’ texts, written before and after PBI, were analysed according to text quality and revision. Descriptive and argumentative texts in both L1 and EFL were included in the studies. The results showed that PBI raised adult and teen-aged writers’ awareness of linguistic and extra-linguistic features, and that the effect varied across levels of learner ability, text type and language.</p>

Symphony of the spheres in change? Learning in environment for sustainable development in primary school with a scientific and longitudinal approach. This research deals with learning in science, including learning in environment for sustainable development. Learning in environment and sustainable development are obligatory perspectives in science as well as in other school subjects. The longitudinal study started in 2003, concerning 28 pupils nine years of age in a city in southern Sweden. Data collection has been caught in the pupils’ science lessons from year 2003 to 2006. In order to analyse the pupils’ development of concepts in science and in environment for sustainable development, I have videotaped a lot of sequences from the science lessons and followed up with questionnaires and questions in interviews. Stimulated recall is used to find the teacher’s intentions and reactions on the outcome of the lessons. The results are analysed according to the Earth System Science (ESS) model. It is a model, which describes the relations and interactions between the natural spheres: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere as well as the biosphere, including man, and the technosphere/anthroposphere. The longitudinal approach resulted in important findings regarding the changes in the pupils’ answers over time. They develop complicated 'concept webs'. The concepts found among the pupils in this study are e.g. the hydrological cycle; life; soil; water in every day life; pollution; non-polluting busses as well as waste; collecting batteries; corrosion; greenhouse and the increasing greenhouse effect. Some concepts e.g. the hydrological cycle, life and soil can from the beginning be classified as concepts used in science, but also to describe what happens in the environment. Concepts as pollution; non-polluting busses; collecting batteries; corrosion; greenhouse and increasing greenhouse effect are used by the pupils to express relations and interactions in and between the natural spheres including man. The relation between man and nature is for the pupils an area of conflicts through the entire study when the pupils from a scientific approach will be aware of the impact on living ecosystems including themselves, today and in the future. The concepts are often connected to each other in a more or less complicated network, 'concepts webs'. The obtained results indicate that the Socratic dialogue is a possible and successful method to use for the development of pupils’ concepts in environmental questions and issues. Another finding in the study is how different methods, e.g. Play and learning, support environmental learning and learning for sustainable development during the science lessons. Play is important in integrated learning and gives opportunity to understand others’ perspectives, Theory of mind. The results indicate an integrated learning process by the pupils, implying in what way they express human impact on nature.

Keystroke logging records keyboard activity during writing. Time and position of all keystrokes are stored in a log file, which facilitates detailed analysis of all pauses, revisions and movements undertaken during writing. Keystroke logging further includes a replay function, which can be used as a tool for reflection and analysis of the writing process. During writing, writers continuously plan, transcribe, read, and revise in order to create a text that meets with their goals and intentions for the text. These activities both interact and trigger one another. This thesis includes studies in which keystroke recordings are used as bases for visualisation of and reflection on the cognitive processes that underlie writing. The keystroke logging methodology is coupled with Geographical information systems (GIS) and stimulated recall in order to enhance the understanding of keystroke logged data as representations of interacting cognitive activities during writing. Particular attention is paid to writing revision and a taxonomy for analysis of on-line revision is proposed. In the taxonomy, revisions made at the point of inscription are introduced as ‘pre-contextual’ revisions, and highlighted as potential windows on cognitive processing during transcription. The function of pre-contextual revisions as revisions of form and concepts was ascertained in an empirical study, which also showed that 13-year-old writers revised more form and concepts at the point of inscription when they wrote in English as a foreign language (EFL) than in Swedish as a first language (L1). In this thesis, a learning method, Peer-based intervention (PBI), is introduced and examined through case studies and statistical analysis. PBI is based on theories about cognitive capacity, noticing, individual-based learning and social interaction. In PBI, the keystroke-logging replay facility is used as a tool for reflection on and discussion of keystroke logged data, i.e. representations of cognitive processes active during writing. In the studies presented in this thesis, teen-aged and adult writers’ texts, written before and after PBI, were analysed according to text quality and revision. Descriptive and argumentative texts in both L1 and EFL were included in the studies. The results showed that PBI raised adult and teen-aged writers’ awareness of linguistic and extra-linguistic features, and that the effect varied across levels of learner ability, text type and language.

This research deals with learning in science, including learning in environment for sustainable development. Learning in environment and sustainable development are obligatory perspectives in science as well as in other school subjects. The longitudinal study started in 2003, concerning 28 pupils nine years of age in a city in southern Sweden. Data collection has been caught in the pupils’ science lessons from year 2003 to 2006. In order to analyse the pupils’ development of concepts in science and in environment for sustainable development, I have videotaped a lot of sequences from the science lessons and followed up with questionnaires and questions in interviews. Stimulated recall is used to find the teacher’s intentions and reactions on the outcome of the lessons. The results are analysed according to the Earth System Science (ESS) model. It is a model, which describes the relations and interactions between the natural spheres: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere as well as the biosphere, including man, and the technosphere/anthroposphere. The longitudinal approach resulted in important findings regarding the changes in the pupils’ answers over time. They develop complicated 'concept webs'. The concepts found among the pupils in this study are e.g. the hydrological cycle; life; soil; water in every day life; pollution; non-polluting busses as well as waste; collecting batteries; corrosion; greenhouse and the increasing greenhouse effect. Some concepts e.g. the hydrological cycle, life and soil can from the beginning be classified as concepts used in science, but also to describe what happens in the environment. Concepts as pollution; non-polluting busses; collecting batteries; corrosion; greenhouse and increasing greenhouse effect are used by the pupils to express relations and interactions in and between the natural spheres including man. The relation between man and nature is for the pupils an area of conflicts through the entire study when the pupils from a scientific approach will be aware of the impact on living ecosystems including themselves, today and in the future. The concepts are often connected to each other in a more or less complicated network, 'concepts webs'. The obtained results indicate that the Socratic dialogue is a possible and successful method to use for the development of pupils’ concepts in environmental questions and issues. Another finding in the study is how different methods, e.g. Play and learning, support environmental learning and learning for sustainable development during the science lessons. Play is important in integrated learning and gives opportunity to understand others’ perspectives, Theory of mind. The results indicate an integrated learning process by the pupils, implying in what way they express human impact on nature.

This paper reports a study that examined the pedagogical knowledge (knowledge and beliefs related to the act of teaching) of two more successful and two less successful adult ESL instructors during planning teaching and post teaching reflection. The verbal reports of their teaching were compared to previous studies (Gatbonton, 2000, 2008; Mullock, 2006) that used stimulated recall to categorize adult ESL instructors' pedagogical thoughts during their instruction. The comparison showed that the previous categories were inadequate to cover the data. Additional codes were added in order to codify all the data after which patterns and themes emerged that overarched the previous categories. The five pattern themes among the four participants included academic focus, comprehension, engagement, language management, and student centered. The two more successful teachers each had one specific pattern theme whose fundamental focus was on student learning. These themes dominated the more successful teachers' pedagogical foci while the other four themes were subservient to that dominant theme. Like the more successful teachers all five pattern themes were present in the planning and reflection of the less successful teachers. However, the protocols of the less successful Adult ESL teachers did not exhibit a central theme or pedagogical focus that orchestrated and directed the movement of their pedagogical thoughts among the remaining pattern themes. This lack of a dominant theme meant that the pedagogical foci of these teachers moved from one theme to another without a consistent orientation toward a central goal. The conflicted or divided nature of the pedagogical thinking of these less successful teachers may contribute to the reduction in the learning of students in their classes.

The aim of the thesis is to investigate and analyse students’ expressions of pleasure and displeasure and how these are manifested in actions in the teaching of textile sloyd in lower secondary education. The study’s focus is on students’ expressions of pleasure and displeasure in social action in the working processes of textile sloyd and on how these expressions can be related to learning. The empirical material consists of observations, video and audio recordings, individual interviews and focus group interviews, where video and audio recordings were used as stimulated recall. In all, 32 lessons in textile sloyd and 49 students aged 14-15 years were observed at four different schools. Theoretically, the thesis is based on Mead’s practical intersubjectivity and on Dewey’s theory of experience-based learning and dependence on emotions and actions. Pleasure and displeasure constitute valuating partial aspects of emotions. Based on a socio-cultural perspective, emotions are regarded as practices which arise from different predispositions’ dependence on the social context. The study’s analytical approach is hermeneutical. Critical incidents regarding students’ expressions of pleasure and displeasure in social action found in observations and video and audio recordings were analysed in terms of Mead’s concept of gestures. The events were combined with what the students describe as critical incidents of pleasure and displeasure in the interviews and focus group talks. The material was then thematised. Several situations were then subjected to deeper analysis based on sociality and a change in perspective and related to different concepts of learning. The result of the thesis shows a tripartite semantic structure where students’ pleasure and displeasure in textile sloyd are mainly based on textile sloyd’s specific educational community, students’ relationship to the sloyd object and their experience of the working process. Social interaction, humour and mutual acknowledgement proved to be of importance for the function of pleasure and displeasure in the students’ working processes. The students’ experience of pleasure and displeasure depended on their control of the work, the characteristics of different craft techniques and their awareness of time. Pleasure and displeasure in textile sloyd found an expression in four overarching emotional practices with decisive importance for the students’ opportunities for learning: the repudiating, insecure, accepting and incorporating emotional practice. The study also provides an insight into how different cultural factors enable a certain scope for pleasure and displeasure. In this connection, social changes in relation to objects are discussed, as are changes in sociality and emotionality. Based on the pair of concepts of authenticity and ephemerality and closeness and intensity, cultural changes are visualised that are conceivably important for the students’ experiences of pleasure and displeasure in textile sloyd.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:06:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MariaLA_DISSERT.pdf: 1373580 bytes, checksum: b6d1fadb02e71d1c4e9e654613860d81 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-06 / Research about teacher education, carried out in the area of Applied Linguistics (AL), reveals the importance of reflective practices in the professional development of teachers. With the aim of contributing to this area, we present this case study conducted at a technical school in Natal, RN. The corpus of the study is formed mainly from the teacher&#8223;s discourse, generated during a stimulated recall session and the instruments used to collect the data: an initial questionnaire, a video recording of a class and the text transcript of the stimulated recall session. The central objective is to understand the way in which the reflection-on-action (SCH?N, 1983, 1987) can contribute to raise the awareness of an English as a Foreign Language teacher (EFL) about her actions in the classroom. With this proposal, we begin our discussion presenting the origins, the presuppositions and characteristics of the concept of reflection according to Sch?n (1983, 1987), and supported by other authors (PERRENOUD, 2002; G?MEZ, 1995; IMBERN?N, 2009, among others); of critical reflection (LISTON e ZEICHNER, 1993; PIMENTA, 2002; DUTRA e MELLO, 2004, among others); and of the process of critical reflection (SMYTH, 1992). To evidence the reflections that emerge in the teacher&#8223;s discourse, we found support in the theories and methods of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), which was initially proposed by Halliday (1985, 1994), Halliday and Hasan (1989), Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) and followers, such as, Eggins (1994), Thompson (1996), among others. We focus mainly on the subsystem of Attitude, an integral component of the system of discourse resources, Appraisal, presented by Martin (2000), Martin and Rose (2003, 2007), Martin and White (2005). The results reveal that the actions of the teacher in the classroom reflect not only her professional experiences, but also her values and concepts about teaching/learning languages. The results also show the teacher&#8223;s awareness of the need for changes in her practices. Faced with these findings, we believe that this study reveals important concepts that can direct teacher educators to rethink new ways of approaching teacher training courses. In addition, it also reveals the importance of discourse analysis based on a systemic functional approach. / Pesquisas sobre forma??o de professores realizadas na ?rea de Lingu?stica Aplicada (LA) revelam a import?ncia da pr?tica reflexiva no desenvolvimento do profissional docente. Visando apresentar contribui??es nessa ?rea, esta pesquisa mostra um estudo de caso desenvolvido em uma escola t?cnica na cidade de Natal/RN. Seu corpus ? formado principalmente do discurso de uma professora, gerado durante uma sess?o de visionamento. Os instrumentos utilizados para a coleta dos dados foram um question?rio inicial, a grava??o de uma aula em v?deo e o texto transcrito da sess?o de visionamento. O objetivo central ? compreender o modo pelo qual a reflex?o-sobre-a-a??o (SCH?N, 1983, 1987) pode contribuir para a tomada de consci?ncia de uma professora de Ingl?s como L?ngua Estrangeira (ILE) sobre suas a??es em sala de aula. Com esse prop?sito, iniciamos nossa discuss?o apresentando as origens, os pressupostos e as caracter?sticas do conceito de reflex?o de acordo com Sch?n (1983, 1987), e complementado por outros autores (PERRENOUD, 2002; G?MEZ, 1995; IMBERN?N, 2009, dentre outros); de reflex?o cr?tica (LISTON e ZEICHNER, 1993; PIMENTA, 2002; DUTRA e MELLO, 2004, entre outros) e do processo de reflex?o cr?tica (SMYTH, 1992). Para evidenciar as reflex?es que emergem no discurso da professora, buscamos suporte te?rico-metodol?gico na Gram?tica Sist?mico-Funcional (GSF), proposta inicialmente por Halliday (1985, 1994), Halliday e Hasan (1989), Halliday e Mathiessen (2004) e seguidores, tais como Eggins (1994), Thompson (1996), entre outros. Focamos especificamente no subsistema de Atitude, parte integrante do sistema de Avaliatividade apresentado por Martin (2000), Martin e Rose (2003, 2007), Martin e White (2005). Os resultados revelaram que as a??es da professora em sala de aula refletem n?o apenas sua experi?ncia profissional, mas tamb?m seus valores e concep??es de ensino-aprendizagem de l?nguas. Eles tamb?m demonstram sua conscientiza??o para a necessidade de mudan?as de sua pr?tica pedag?gica. Diante desses achados, acredita-se que este estudo revela concep??es importantes que podem levar os formadores de professores a repensar novas formas de abordar os cursos de forma??o docente, al?m de revelar a import?ncia da an?lise do discurso sob a perspectiva sist?mico-funcional.