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This study is an investigation of methods of teaching and learning in the A-level English curriculum consisting both of the traditional A-level English literature and the more recent arrival of A-level English language. It is generally assumed in commentaries on A-level English teaching that language is taught differently from literature because of differences in aims, content and ideology. English language is seen as a deliberate move away from the more 'pure' academic study of literary texts and towards more 'applied' and even partly 'vocational' study in which independent and collaborative forms of learning are strongly encouraged. There is, however, little empirical evidence about how students are taught and how they learn in these different courses. The study addresses these limitations by carrying out an intensive, qualitative study of the teaching styles of ten teachers who teach across the two A-level English subjects. Video recordings of twenty complete lessons (i. e. 10 English language and 10 English literature) were analysed using a formal framework of analysis adapted from the study of discourse analysis. This system identifies the organisation of the classroom discourse so as to allow for a comparison of the patterning of teaching exchanges across the two subjects. The study also investigates, using semi-structured interviews, how the teachers perceive the learning objectives of the two subjects, and the match between those objectives and the teaching and learning methods used to achieve them. The findings suggest that teachers do not vary their teaching style when teaching across the two English subjects at A-levels supporting an extensive statistical study of students' perceptions of the instructional practices employed by teachers which also found a lack of pedagogic distinctiveness between the two subjects. The analysis revealed that teacher-led recitation is a prominent feature of the discourse in both A-level English language and literature.

This dissertation considers two important issues relevant to the efficiency of institutional investment managers. It examines the trading behaviour of institutional equity funds in relation to investment style drift and dividend payments to assess whether trading is beneficial to investors in these funds. The analysis of investment style is relevant because of the prominence of multiple manager funds in Australia, while institutional investor preferences for dividend income will impact the after-tax return of fund investors. Firstly, monthly equity fund portfolio holdings are used to examine the magnitude of investment style drift. Institutional investor style tilts are consistent with their self-stated investment objective. Decomposing style drift into active and passive components reveals that institutions retain a desired portfolio tilt by actively adjusting their portfolio holdings in response to passive style drift. Furthermore, funds are most responsive to changes in book-to-market and momentum drift, with style drift affecting portfolio turnover. Secondly, the dissertation presents an equilibrium framework of dividend valuation and ex-dividend trading under Australia??s imputation tax system. An examination of returns, volume, and order imbalance in the Australian equity market shows that investors value dividends. The results are consistent with long-term investors accelerating trades to the cum-dividend period and short-term traders targeting fully franked, high yielding dividends with a small bid-ask spread. Franking credits possess a positive value for the majority of the sample while transaction costs impede the efficient adjustment of prices on the ex-dividend day. The results show that a 45-day holding period rule reduces the amount of short-term trading from July 1999. Thirdly, the dissertation places the ex-dividend trading behaviour of institutional equity funds in the context of the findings for the Australian equity market. Institutions accelerate their sales of long-term holdings to the cum-dividend period, and delay purchases until the ex-dividend period to avoid dividends. Institutional trading is consistent with the provision of liquidity to short-term traders that are attempting to capture both dividends and franking credits. The introduction of a long-term capital gains tax discount in 1999 entices institutions to trade in a more tax-efficient manner by selling long-term holdings prior to the ex-dividend day.

This dissertation considers two important issues relevant to the efficiency of institutional investment managers. It examines the trading behaviour of institutional equity funds in relation to investment style drift and dividend payments to assess whether trading is beneficial to investors in these funds. The analysis of investment style is relevant because of the prominence of multiple manager funds in Australia, while institutional investor preferences for dividend income will impact the after-tax return of fund investors. Firstly, monthly equity fund portfolio holdings are used to examine the magnitude of investment style drift. Institutional investor style tilts are consistent with their self-stated investment objective. Decomposing style drift into active and passive components reveals that institutions retain a desired portfolio tilt by actively adjusting their portfolio holdings in response to passive style drift. Furthermore, funds are most responsive to changes in book-to-market and momentum drift, with style drift affecting portfolio turnover. Secondly, the dissertation presents an equilibrium framework of dividend valuation and ex-dividend trading under Australia??s imputation tax system. An examination of returns, volume, and order imbalance in the Australian equity market shows that investors value dividends. The results are consistent with long-term investors accelerating trades to the cum-dividend period and short-term traders targeting fully franked, high yielding dividends with a small bid-ask spread. Franking credits possess a positive value for the majority of the sample while transaction costs impede the efficient adjustment of prices on the ex-dividend day. The results show that a 45-day holding period rule reduces the amount of short-term trading from July 1999. Thirdly, the dissertation places the ex-dividend trading behaviour of institutional equity funds in the context of the findings for the Australian equity market. Institutions accelerate their sales of long-term holdings to the cum-dividend period, and delay purchases until the ex-dividend period to avoid dividends. Institutional trading is consistent with the provision of liquidity to short-term traders that are attempting to capture both dividends and franking credits. The introduction of a long-term capital gains tax discount in 1999 entices institutions to trade in a more tax-efficient manner by selling long-term holdings prior to the ex-dividend day.

Zugl.: München, Univ., Habil.-Schr. 2004

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wyoming, 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on March 20, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 40-48).