Abstract The purpose of this research was to explore, through interviews, miscue and retrospective miscue analysis, and retellings of stories, the oral reading performance of three English as a second language (ESL) students and their perceptions of the reading process, their knowledge of the English language cueing systems and their use of strategies in reading narrative and expository passages in English. The Burke Modified Reading Interview was administered to explore the students perceptions of the reading process and of themselves as readers. Additional interviews were conducted to obtain information about their schooling and literacy background. The students miscues while reading narrative and expository passage from an informal reading inventory were recorded, transcribed and coded using selected parts of Goodmans reading miscue inventory. Students listened to their miscues during retrospective miscue analysis sessions and engaged in self-reflection and exploratory talk to discuss why they made those miscues. The findings showed that the students perceptions of reading varied. The print-based readers relied heavily on graphophonic strategies and knowledge-based readers focused on semantic strategies in reading the selected passages. All of the participants read below their grade levels. The findings also revealed that these students created images and overarching schemata in their imaginations as they were reading the selected texts. The students performed better on passages about which they had strong background knowledge. Their relative performance with narrative and expository structures varied. It was concluded that ESL students need more instruction and experience in reading informational texts and need to learn new strategies for making inferences from the texts using their knowledge of the language cueing systems and their knowledge of the world. / Language and Literacy Education

No description available.

Issues of culture and worldview and their impact on students' learning of science have become increasingly important to science teachers. This study details work that I carried out in the period 1995-1999 which examined the effect of culture on students' conceptualisations of nature. It is framed as the creation of my own 'living educational theory' as I, a teacher-researcher, dealt with what I perceived were the cultural inequities experienced by students in my classroom. I carried out my first study with a group of seven rural high school students in the Far North of Queensland in Australia, where I was teaching in 1995. Later, in two visits to China, I was able to carry out the same sort of research with a group of seven Chinese college students in Jinan, Shandong Province, PRC, largely using the Chinese language. I used a naturalistic inquiry approach and a semi-structured interview technique to determine students' conceptualisations of nature. I have chosen to embed the results of these two studies within narratives that describe my experiences in the two cultures as I carried out my research. For each culture, I have also developed an epic description of the role of science from the literature and history of that culture. From my three sources of data, interview, narrative and historical description, I have made knowledge claims about the students' beliefs about the natural world.My research findings are ironic to me since they are diametrically opposite to what I had expected. Initially I had believed that Mainland Chinese students would possess a world view full of alternative perspectives to that of Western school science. My research indicates however that students in rural Mainland China hold a traditional and integrated modem Western scientific world view. Although some researchers in other South-East Asian communities propose alternative frameworks for ++ / the teaching of science, frameworks that are actually 'pre-modern' these do not appear to be appropriate for Mainland Chinese students. I had expected that the Australian students would bring a modern Western scientific world view to the science classroom. However, the group of rural Western students that I interviewed displayed a world view that is not recognisable as that of modern Western science. Postmodernism and other cultural and social effects appear to have influenced them to such an extent that some have clearly not 'crossed the border' to a modern Western scientific world view. This thesis reflects my desire to overcome the perceived problem of inequity in my own teaching. The knowledge claims made here give some indication as to how I may improve my own practice. A return to the classroom will allow me to continue the cycle of action and reflection by which I can validate, develop and refine my living educational theory.

Students' interest in physics seems to be decreasing at all levels of education in most countries including Thailand. This problem is likely to be influenced by physics teaching and learning processes. Instructors' beliefs influence teaching strategies whereas students' beliefs, goals and motivation influence learning strategies. The investigation of factors influencing teaching and learning will provide useful information for improving the teaching and learning of physics. This research aims to explore physics instructors' beliefs about teaching and learning physics, students' beliefs, goals and motivation for studying physics in Thai Rajabhat universities. A questionnaire was administered to instructors who teach introductory physics courses in Rajabhats throughout Thailand at the beginning of second semester in 2002. Questionnaires were administered to first year students who enrolled in introductory physics courses at two Rajabhat universities in the south of Thailand at the beginning and the end of that semester. Four case studies were conducted with instructors and students at the two Rajabhats during the semester.

Purpose – This thesis aimed at investigating students’ beliefs influencing their personal attitudes and subjective norms not to choose the accounting profession by using the simplified Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) model. Theoretical framework – This study used the simplified TRA model to investigate the beliefs that influence students not to choose the accounting profession. From an accounting context, prior research has indicated that, there are intrinsic and extrinsic factors that determine the behavioural beliefs of students about the accounting profession. Likewise, normative beliefs are another construct of the simplified TRA model that influences students’ intentions towards the accounting profession. Methodology – Through a quantitative approach, questionnaires were sent electronically to first and second year students at five major universities in Sweden. In total, 323 students replied to the questionnaire. Since this study focused on students intending to choose business administration, non-business administration students were deleted from the sample giving an actual sample size of 228. The data collected was analyzed in two steps using multiple regression analysis. Findings – The findings of the study confirmed the simplified TRA model. The results showed that both behavioural and normative beliefs influenced students’ intentions not to choose the accounting profession. For behavioral beliefs, no personal interest in accounting, the belief that accounting is boring and the belief that other occupations (for instance, marketing and management) negatively influenced students’ attitudes not to choose the accounting profession. Similarly, for normative beliefs, teachers and peers influenced students’ subjective norms not to choose the accounting profession. Practical implications – The practical implications of this study are two-folded. Firstly, program directors at universities should engage in hiring qualified teachers in accounting, organize supportive activities to encourage students about the accounting profession. Also, program directors should include compulsory internships in the curriculum so that students can learn about the accounting profession. Secondly, former accounting students should get involved in the process of encouraging students about the accounting profession. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the beliefs influencing the personal attitudes and subjective norms of students not to choose the accounting profession. Therefore, the thesis provides an up-to-date theory about the TRA in the accounting profession in Sweden.

This thesis presents an investigation into secondary school English teachers’ and students’ conceptualisations of good writing, and how they might use their understandings of quality in writing for the purpose of improving writing. By focusing on the views and classroom practices of twelve-year-old students and their teachers, the research aims to advance understanding of teachers’ and students’ conceptual thinking about writing quality, and the underlying constructs. The research utilises data from an ESRC-funded project titled Grammar for Writing?: The Impact of Contextualised Grammar Teaching on Pupils’ Writing and Pupils’ Metalinguistic Understanding (grant number RES-062-23-0775). This data was gathered from thirty-one teachers and their Year 8 students over three terms. Lesson observations took place once each term, and were followed by interviews with each project teacher and one teacher-chosen student from each class. Interview questions relating to beliefs about good writing were included in the project schedules and were inductively analysed to discern themes in participants’ responses. Interviews with students took the form of ‘writing conversations’ during which students commented on samples of their own and their peers’ writing. A small-scale follow-up study with three Year 8 classes in one secondary school was used to confirm initial findings and to provide additional data on students’ beliefs about good writing. The research found that teachers’ conceptualisations of writing quality were internally consistent but that variation between teachers was marked. Teachers not only valued different qualities in writing but experienced different degrees of conflict and ambiguity when relating their personal construct of quality to the official, public construct, as embodied in national assessment criteria. The findings support earlier views of teacher judgement as richly textured and complex, drawing on different available indexes, including idiosyncratic conceptualisations of writing quality. Whilst students’ criteria for good writing echoed their teachers’ criteria to some extent, there was also evidence of students drawing on their own conceptualisations of quality, especially in relation to the intended impact of writing on the reader. Many students expressed a strong awareness of writing for an audience and clearly valued writing as a social practice. They especially valued peer judgement of their writing. However, students’ strategies for improving writing were often difficult to articulate, formulaic and generalised, or circumscribed by limited linguistic subject knowledge. The study is significant in offering an insight into teachers’ and students’ conceptualisations of writing quality and how these might be brought into play in the writing classroom. The findings may have particular resonance since they are reported at a time of radical change to assessment policy and practice in secondary schools in England.

文法教學與錯誤訂正一直是課堂上的重要元素，因此了解老師與學生對於文法教學與錯誤訂正的信念有助於教學。本研究旨在探討台灣國民中學英語老師與學生對於文法教學與錯誤訂正的信念差異，並了解不同背景變項對於老師與學生信念的影響。研究工具採自編問卷，針對大台北地區141位國民中學英語老師與214位國民中學學生進行抽樣及問卷施測。資料分析採用SPSS 18.0版本，並將所得的資料以次數分配、百分比、平均數、獨立樣本t檢定及單因子變異數分析進行資料分析。本研究的主要結論如下： 一、老師與學生都相信文法教學與錯誤訂正很重要，但是溝通能力更重要。 二、老師與學生都表示最喜歡團體口語練習，其次是團體書寫練習、個人書寫練習，最後才是個人口語練習。 三、學生比老師更重視文法教學和錯誤訂正，而老師比學生更重視文法練習。 四、學生比老師更肯定同儕訂正，並相信錯誤訂正對當事人與同儕都有益。 五、學生認為口語錯誤和書寫錯誤都需要即時訂正，而老師認為只有書寫錯誤一定要訂正，但口語錯誤只要不影響溝通便不需訂正。 六、老師的性別、年資、學歷與主修科系會影響其文法教學與錯誤訂正的信念。 七、學生的性別、年級、生活經驗與學習經歷會影響其文法教學與錯誤訂正的信念。 根據上述研究結論，本研究針對國民中學英語教師、教育行政主管機關及後續研究提出具體建議。 關鍵字：教師信念、學生信念、文法教學、錯誤訂正 / Grammar instruction and error correction have always been important elements in class. Understanding students’ and teachers’ beliefs in grammar instruction and error correction is helpful to teaching. The purpose of the study is to investigate (1) similarities and differences between Taiwanese junior high school students’ and teachers’ beliefs in grammar instruction and error correction, (2) background factors that may cause differences in teachers’ beliefs in grammar instruction and error correction, and (3) background factors that may cause differences in students’ beliefs in grammar instruction and error correction. Self-designed questionnaires were distributed to 141 English teachers and 214 students in junior high schools in Great Taipei Area. Number distribution, percentage, average, independent-samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA were adopted to analyze the data collected by the questionnaires. A summary of the results is as follows: 1. Both students and teachers believed that while grammar instruction and error correction are essential, communication is more important. 2. Both students and teachers reported their preference for grammar practicing in the same sequential order of group oral practices, group writing practices, individual writing practices, and individual oral practices. 3. Students valued grammar instruction and error correction more than teachers, while teachers valued grammar practices more than students. 4. Students valued peer correction more than teachers and believed error correction is beneficial to those who make errors and their classmates. 5. Students believed both spoken and written errors need immediate correction. Teachers believed that correcting written errors is necessary, but that there is no need to correct the spoken errors as long as they do not obstruct communication. 6. Teachers’ genders, seniorities, degrees of formal schooling, and their majors were influential to their beliefs in grammar instruction and error correction. 7. Students’ genders, grades, personal experiences, and learning experiences were influential to their beliefs in grammar instruction and error correction. Based on the findings, suggestions are provided for junior high school English teachers, educational institutions and researchers of related topics. Keywords: teachers’ beliefs, students’ beliefs, grammar instruction, error correction

Learning English as a foreign language (EFL) entails different factors. Language learners use different strategies in order to make their language acquisition successful. Motivation and self-regulated learning are other factors that influence how successful the EFL learner is. This paper aims to analyze the beliefs of upper secondary students in a Swedish school about learning EFL, as well as how their beliefs relate to what is specified in the Swedish curriculum. An analysis of the differences between students’ beliefs and what is stated in the curriculum was done. A survey was conducted on a total of 54 students who were enrolled in the social sciences program. The results showed that students believed that motivation and self-regulated learning were important factors for a successful learning. For them, the language skill of reception is more important than production, which does not correspond with what it is stated in the national curriculum. First and second year students’ beliefs were similar in most of the cases, but not all of them.

No description available.

Il presente lavoro di ricerca si propone di esplorare le concezioni degli studenti sulla creatività attraverso strumenti quali la parola e il disegno, a tramite attività mentali quali il giudizio, il riconoscimento e la descrizione. Tre sono i concetti chiave oggetto di indagine della presente ricerca: il riconoscimento, inteso come l’abilità nel distinguere prodotti (e autori) creativi da quelli non creativi. Tale distinzione ha luogo nel momento in cui l’individuo è in grado di cogliere quegli elementi che portano a un cambiamento di significato di un dato oggetto che in questo modo viene considerato creativo. Il secondo concetto chiave è il giudizio, ovvero l’abilità di un individuo di valutare l’autore - o gli autori - di prodotti creativi e non creativi. Il terzo concetto è quello legato all’abilità, attraverso la quale le persone esprimono il loro potenziale creativo. Gli obiettivi declinati nel presente lavoro di ricerca sono tre. Il primo si prefigge di indagare la capacità che gli studenti hanno di riconoscere la fase di ristrutturazione - costitutiva dell’atto creativo - distinguendo i prodotti creativi da quelli non creativi sulla base del loro diverso livello di originalità. A tale proposito sono state messe a punto diverse serie di disegni che rappresentano la realizzazione di artefatti creativi e non creativi e presentate prima a un campione di studenti universitari (Studio 1) e poi di studenti della scuola Primaria e Secondaria (Studio 2, Studio 3). Il secondo obiettivo consisteva nel descrivere la rappresentazione del comportamento del creativo. Attraverso una storia è stato richiesto agli studenti di giudicare il ruolo della persona creativa (Studio 2, Studio 3). Infine, il terzo obiettivo era valutare l’espressione della creatività e la sua relazione con la rappresentazione (Studio 3) attraverso l’impiego di strumenti diversi, quali il differenziale semantico, il compito di completamento di disegni ed il test delle Linee Parallele tratta dal Test di Pensiero Creativo di Torrance (TTCT: Torrance, 1989). / The present work is aimed at exploring how students represent creativity. To explore their beliefs we used different research tools (as words, drawings), and different cognitive tasks (as judging, recognizing, describing). Three concepts will be investigated in this research: (1) recognition, intended as the ability to distinguish between creative and non-creative products as well as between creative and non-creative authors: we tried to identify if our participants were able to catch the distinctive elements that determine the change of meaning of an artifact so that it become creative; (2) judgment, intended as the ability to judge the author(s) of creative and non-creative products; (3) expression, intended as the ability to express our own creative potential. Three specific aims has been set across this research. The first aim was to investigate the ability of students to recognize the restructuring phase of a creative act, differentiating between creative and non-creative products. Different series of drawings that represented the realization of creative and non-creative objects were devised and tested on undergraduates (Study 1) and on school children (Study 2, Study 3). The second aim was to describe the representation of creative behaviour. Using a story as a baseline, students were requested to judge the role of the creative person (Study 2, Study 3). The third aim was to evaluate the expression of creativity and the relationship between expression and representation of creativity (Study 3) using different tasks: a semantic differential scale, a picture completion task and a subscale of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT: Torrance, 1989).