Most present day educational software has been designed for use as a cognitive tool, aimed at fostering students' learning outcomes and without considering the teaching framework in which it will be used. A literature review demonstrated that there is a lack of evidence about teachers' concepts and beliefs concerning educational software. In order to address this issue a case study was designed in which teachers would need to think deeply and purposefully about the characteristics and features of software. The case chosen was a process of educational software development, in which two teachers, a software engineer, a psychologist and a graphic designer, were committed to develop a piece of software during a seven month period. In each session the teachers expressed ideas and conceptions about software and were continuously reflecting on its nature. The sessions were video-recorded and the tapes transcribed, these data were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques using systemic networks to organise and give a structure to the categories of analysis. Based on the discussion of the findings, the main implications of this study are represented as a model of understanding of educational software that considers teachers' actual concepts and beliefs about computers and software. This model, firstly, shows, that these teachers conceived of the computer as a resource that could replace them in the role of managing students' rehearsal of materials, and, secondly, presents the characteristics of the educational software that these teachers designed and shows the dimensions of their teaching strategies (classroom atmosphere, pedagogy, and learning conceptions) that were embedded in these characteristics (human-computer interface, browsing, and interaction with the software respectively). This model demonstrates significant links between the study of Pedagogy and the study of Information Technology in Education and has implications for the relationship between these two areas of research and consequently for teacher training.

This study seeks to explore English teachers’ understandings of the challenges of classroom talk. A key assumption is that while many teachers and researchers view talk for learning as valuable, there is still a problem when it comes to actually using talk and small group learning widely. There are many different challenges that emerge when teachers try to promote this type of learning. Rather than study classroom discourse therefore, I wanted to focus on teachers’ understandings of how talk works in the classroom. This was the problem I wanted to research in more depth. I start the study with my own talk autobiography. I reflect on my own life in education and my life as a teacher in urban schools and highlight the role of talk, language and learning in my intellectual development. Having done this I identify the questions I wanted to ask teachers. I wanted to hear their stories of talk as pupils and as teachers. I chose to talk to six teachers at different stages of their careers in different phases of education. Later, I return to the teachers and ask them to video a lesson and identify what I am calling ‘a critical moment for talk’. We then evaluate such moments collaboratively. The study is sociocultural in approach. Further, the life narrative case studies draw on traditions of practitioner and feminist research with the aim of making teachers’ expertise more visible in wider debates about classroom talk. The analysis of the case studies suggests that a teacher’s own experiences in education and their values influence pedagogy and specifically their approach to talk. They reveal the challenges of dealing with conflicting power relationships within group work and during whole class dialogue and consider some solutions. The era and context are shown as particularly powerful factors in influencing pedagogy. Today what I refer to as the ‘talk for learning model’ is under attack and the focus has returned to the promotion of standard English. The aim of the study is make teachers’ intuitions and insights available about the place of talk and what they have found challenging about organising talk for learning.

Studies in Foreign Language (FL) lexical acquisition have become more specialized since the development of Applied Linguistics. This study is multi-facetted and aims to investigate and analyse French vocabulary acquisition by two groups of successful young learners: gifted Language Two (L2) learners and young English/French ‘choice’ bilinguals in comparison with a group of L2 learners. The term choice bilingual is used to refer to a specific type of bilingual which is an under-researched group. The research identifies the similarities and differences between the groups in the storage of and access to L2 lexis and in their working memory. It determines what strategies for learning they employ and compares learners’ attitudes and beliefs about language learning with their parents’ perceived attitudes towards their children’s learning of French. The study investigates patterns for successful learning of lexis which may help to improve pedagogical practices for assisting vocabulary acquisition. The research data involve aptitude, vocabulary and working memory tests, and a questionnaire. The reason for the adoption of this multi-set data examination method is to present a coherent and comprehensive analysis of the issue being studied. The thesis contributes to the field of second and foreign language lexical acquisition and presents relevant empirical data. The results of the study add positive evidence to research related to the importance of strategy training and the development of working memory for L2 learners. There is also evidence to suggest the possibility of using specifically designed vocabulary network tests to assist in judging vocabulary and linguistic development. This study is set in the context of an attempt by the government to make a second language a compulsory subject at primary level in UK state schools originally in 2010 and now in 2014. It looks at French as the L2 for British school children in the independent sector and English/French choice bilinguals all aged 10-13.

The thesis presents a research that focuses on how children's learning processes occur when algebra is introduced as a language-in-use. The research incorporates graphic calculators as a means for providing children with a computing environment where communication is held by using a symbolic language similar in syntax and notation to the algebraic code. The use of calculators is shaped by a set of tasks specifically designed for this study. The tasks are arranged in order to simulate the social processes through which children learn the mother tongue. The design of the learning environment is based on Bruner's research on children's language acquisition. According to this, the major aim of the study is to investigate the ways in which the calculator's symbolic code shapes children's expressions of general relationships, and more specifically the kinds of notions and strategies that children develop through using calculator language. The study seeks for an explanatory framework that might provide a better understanding of the potential of technological resources in the teaching of algebra. The study drew promising results that provide evidence for an alternative approach to teaching algebra. The thesis offers a discussion of the theoretical background and its relationship with the teachina method. It also provides an analysis of children's achievements and difficulties.

The aim of this study is to investigate children's developing sense of number in the computational medium of Boxer. Boxer's combination of graphical and symbolic elements afforded the opportunity for children to visualise numbers in an operational way while simultaneously offering insights into how this operational approach mediated their thinking. There were three inter-related aspects to the study, with visualisation being the common feature of all three. • (i) How does the visual structure of Boxer influence students' (aged 9 - 11) ability to program? • (ii) What interpretations do students place on a number system extended beyond the natural numbers and how did they choose to represent these? • (iii) How can the learning environment of Boxer be exploited as a context for developing students' sense of number? Following an exploratory study, pedagogical models for investigating issues (i) and (iii) were developed. For issue (i), Boxer was exploited as a means of introducing itself. This, in turn, meant documenting the issues involved in a process of iterative design. For issue (iii), a model of learning was developed which proposed that the children should construct their own microworlds. Following an off-computer investigation of issue (ii), the model was refined to that of children constructing operational computational objects, and the research aim broadened to include an investigation of how these objects mediated their expression of number. This part of the research consisted of a longitudinal study lasting two years. It entailed case studies with four pairs of children, while the rest of the class learned Boxer independently. None of the children had previous Boxer or Logo experience. The research setting was a normal classroom in an inner-London primary school. Data for issues (i) and (iii) was obtained by means of video recordings and annotated print-outs, while data for issue (ii) was obtained by written records and audio recordings. Evidence from the research suggests that students' programming is significantly more structured in Boxer relative to Logo, and this structure is directly related to the visual nature of Boxer. Moreover, data from the number studies suggests that this visual structure was also instrumental in providing students with the means to connect number processes with number concepts, thus enabling them to engage with number ideas which might otherwise have been beyond their reach.

The research focuses on the analysis of the self-perception patterns present among Spanish adolescents. The investigation of this topic is carried out by means of the development of a methodology adequate to deal with the shortcomings of existing approaches. The theoretic approach consists in the consideration of those adolescents —thirteen and fourteen years old students— as autonomous social agents who define their own personal strategies in a dynamic of interactions with their environment. This view of students as autonomous social agents is refined through the concept of a self-perception system which draws on some basic notions of systems thinking and cybernetics. Some self-perception systems show similarities which indicate the presence of distinct self-perception patterns. The detection and characterization of those patterns is the main aim of this research. The empirical basis of the research is provided by essays written by 116 students belonging to four state schools in Madrid. Those schools are located in four different socio-economic areas of that city. The common topic of the essays was "How do you see your life as a youngster, as a middle age person and as an elderly person?". The analysis of the conceptual content of those essays produces the specific concepts used by each individual. These data are then processed by means of a methodology called socio-semantic analysis, which combines Q-analysis and Multidimensional Scaling. The outcome of this methodology is a set of socio-semantic maps in which concepts and individuals appear located according to their socio-semantic distances. The interpretation of those maps allows for abstract different patterns of self-perception in the sample: profession centred pattern, a family centred pattern and a dual or conflictive pattern, which is characteristic of some girls. The sociological significance of the notion of self-perception patterns stems from the fact that the considerations of the specific patterns that are at work in a given social environment —in this case an educational environment— may be instrumental in explaining the behaviour of the agents acting within those environments.

This thesis examines teacher personal and cultural presage variables within a black South African cultural dimension. I seek to understand what effects value variables have on the mediation of change and to know why these sometimes act as barriers to the implementation of classroom innovation - in this instance, a communicative language teaching approach. Finally, I itemize the implications of value change for the professional development of teachers following ELT INSET programmes and set out a series of practical proposals on the basis of my conclusions. I argue the need for congruence between teacher values and values inherent in a CLT approach and discuss ways in which value redeployment occur. I outline acceptance of change in terms of a theoretical construct of 'practicality ethics' and argue that personal values must be examined within black South African cultural dimensions of allocentriccollectivism, high uncertainty avoidance and high power distance. I analyze paradigms of western education and review the principles underlying a CLT approach. I link my analysis to the requirements of the DET's English language syllabus and contrast concepts of teacher roles and classroom power relationships in traditional African pedagogy with those of a CLT approach in terms of 'ideal' and 'indigenous' mediational operators, and I examine dissonances between the two. A narrative-descriptive background account of two case studies is given through the use of life histories, diaries, documents and interviews to support an itemistic cross-case analysis of cultural and personal values held in relation to black South African cultural dimensions. I then analyse a series of videoed lessons and I provide a descriptive overview of classroom interaction patterns. Classroom events are discussed in terms of types of teacher questions asked, turn allocations, wait-time and power-relationships, class participation and ritualization, and teacher evaluation, repair and feedback. I conclude that African societies emphasize collective moral values whereas societies geared towards a Western-urbanscientific- technological paradigm stress idiocentricprofessional values. I do not assert that individuals rigidly conform to this bipolarity but application of either or both value systems lie along a continuum with consequent effect on classroom events.

Perceived problems in a state-administered teacher training programme for Japanese teachers of English prompted this thesis. Low consideration and little attention were given to what is meant by teaching ability or teacher professional development. Courses designed to support high school teachers failed to meet their needs. In contrast, considerable emphasis was placed on ‘brushing up’ the teachers’ English proficiency. What the programme lacked was exploring and drawing on teachers’ rich source of ideas and experiences for professional development. Reflective practice seemed to offer a way for high school teachers to examine their ideas and experiences of teaching, to enhance self-awareness, and to foster autonomy. Through a multiple case study approach, this empirical study examines how the incorporation of reflective practice enhances the teacher development of Japanese high school teachers of English. Its incorporation was regarded as a form of methodology borrowing, thus the study attempted to be sensitive to specific cultural practices, so as not to influence their honne (real intent) and to keep them from hansei (self-critical reflection). The study found that reflective practice was more effective for the novice teachers than the experienced teachers. The novice teachers engaged in shaping their professional identity and professional knowledge. In contrast, the experienced teachers seemed to have reflected within their ‘comfort zones,’ that is, what is comfortable for them. In contrast to the approach taken by the state-administered training programme, this study argues that the novice and experienced teachers have different needs in their professional development. The novice teachers needed an opportunity to shape their professional identity. The experienced teachers needed an exploration beyond their ‘comfort zones’. The study also argues that reflective practice, which is likely to be individually based, should be facilitated with interactions and interventions from others, such as peers and teacher trainers.

This thesis is concerned with the process of office automation in Brazil and its skills and training outcomes. The thesis combines a theoretical analysis with an empirical study undertaken in Brazil. Following an introductory chapter, Chapter 2 discusses and analyses two existing theoretical perspectives which address the relationship between technology, work organisation and skills. These are: the labour process approach with reference to the 'deskilling thesis' developed by Harry Braverman (1974) and the 'flexible specialisation thesis' based on Michael Piore and Charles Sabel (1984). They focus on technological changes on the shopfloor, in advanced industrialised countries. Chapter 3 applies the main arguments put forward by these two • approaches to the office environment in advanced industrialised countries. Based on the discussion of a number of empirical studies concerned with the skill outcomes of new technology in the office, the chapter also develops two models of office automation: the 'technology-driven' and the 'informational' models. These models are used as a framework for the discussion of the empirical research undertaken in Brazilian offices. Chapter 4 discusses the recent economic developments in Brazil in order to provide a context for understanding the empirical findings. The chapter describes the country's process of industrialisation, the current economic context and its implications for the adoption of new technology in the Brazilian office environment. Chapter 5 focuses on the empirical research conducted in Brazilian offices and training agencies. It describes the perspectives of managers, office workers and deputy directors of training agencies with regard to technology, skills and training. The chapter then analyses these perspectives in the light of the two theoretical models of office automation developed in Chapter 3. Chapter 6 summarises the main conclusions of this thesis, and draws some implications for training policies in Brazil.

The thesis is concerned with the production of a language for the systematic sociological description of pedagogic texts and with the application of this mechanism to two series of textbooks within the secondary school mathematics scheme, SMP 11-16. One series is targeted at the upper end of the 'ability' range, the other is intended for low ability' pupils. The thesis opens with a discussion of two prominent positions within mathematics education, concluding that they both 'mythologise' mathematical knowledge by abstracting it from the social bases of its elaboration. A search of the literature on the analysis of textbooks reveals that the majority of sociologicallyoriented work entails either ideological analysis or the analysis of the representation of one or more particular categories, most frequently gender and/or race. None of this research combines a theoretically coherent position with a set of derived principles for the detailed analysis of text. Chapter 3 presents a general methodological position in relation to three themes. These are, the distinction between the abstract and the concrete, the construction of subjectivity, and the contextualising and recontextualising of practices. The principal resources in this discussion are the works of Basil Bernstein, Pierre Bourdieu, Umberto Eco, Michel Foucault, and Valerie Walkerdine. Out of a critical discussion of this work, ten Theoretical Propositions are derived. These propositions form the general methodological basis of the 'language of description' which is derived from them in Chapter 4. The following five Chapters comprise an introductory description and a detailed analysis of the two series of textbooks. The analysis is predominantly qualitative in nature, but also incorporates a quantitative component. The latter focuses, in particular, on the modes of signification (icon, index, symbol) that are incorporated in the textbooks. The principal findings that emerge from the analysis describe the ways in which the texts select and construct apprenticed and alienated ideal readers. The differentiation between the apprenticed and alienated ideal readers is, primarily, constructed in terms of social class. The concluding Chapter includes an overview of the thesis and a discussion of the limitations of and possibilities arising from the language of description and its application. The concluding Section works more freely with the language and with the findings of the analysis in developing a theoretical speculation in respect of a possible conception of the relationship between sociological research and educational practice.