Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-64)

M.Ed. / This study focuses on a tutor development programme within an academic literacies module called Language for the Economic Sciences (LES). Coordination of the LES module encompasses tutor development as tutors are the primary facilitators of the module. LES forms part of an Extended Degree Programme within the Faculty of Economic Sciences devised to meet the needs of “underprepared” first year students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). To this end, LES falls within the ambit of academic development at UJ as it is designed and coordinated by an Academic Development practitioner. Higher Education in South Africa has in the recent past shifted from relatively elitist to a mass system of education with the aim to foster democratic nation building. One of the major changes that has occurred is the merger of a number of institutions of higher learning. As a result of the mergers, a new type of comprehensive institution offering a broad spectrum of academic formative, as well as vocationally oriented programmes, has been established. This study focuses on the UJ, as an example of a merged institution, and will examine how teaching and learning has been effected by the changes at UJ. This research is informed by the notion that the interface between tutor and student is vital for students to attain literacy as well as academic language and skills proficiency in their chosen field. Thus, the research problem posed in this study is: What is the role of tutor development in an academic literacies module? Much of the literature on tutoring practice discusses the need to train tutors and offers various means through which this can be done. Using an Action Research design and a global analysis of the data collected, the findings of this study suggest that in addition to the appropriate, focused and rigorous training of tutors, they also need to be developed for effective tutoring to occur. Moreover, the sustained support and mentorship of both individual tutors and tutor groups allows for the maximum benefits of tutoring to be realized by all stakeholders.

The assumption underlying this study is that knowledge is constructed through interaction. Small teaching groups, or tutorials, are often regarded as a particularly effective context for learning in the setting of tertiary education in that they provide an environment for free interaction between students, and thus facilitate active learning. Factors which systematically affect the degree of participation of the individual in tutorIals -directly affect the learning experience of that individual and raise questions about the equality achieved in tutorials, in terms of opportunities for learning. This study focuses on one such type of factor: culturally acquired norms of interaction. The individual is seen as a composite of cultural identities, utilising norms acquired through socialisation and experience in appropriate contexts. Previous research has demonstrated that gendered norms of interaction and those associated with the individual's mother-tongue are particularly salient. In the educational context, norms acquired through previous experience of education are likely to be carried over to the new setting of the university. Thus these factors form the focus of this study. One flrst-year tutorial from each of five departments in the Faculties of Arts and Social Science at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, was video-recorded and the data thus obtained was analyzed for patterns of interaction in terms of gender, mother-tongue and educational background. A model of utterance types was developed to provide a structured description of the patterns found in the tutorials. Interviews and video-sessions with a sample of the tutorial members were conducted, which add a qualitative dimension to the investigation and allow for triangulation. The recorded tutorials and interviews reveal a marked awareness amongst students of the composition of tutorial groups in terms of gender and ethnicity and this composition appears to affect the relative participation of students, in that members of numerically dominant groups are more willing to participate. This is particularly clear in the case of female students. With regard to second-language (L2) speakers of English, a number of factors are highlighted which tend to decrease participation. Apart from problems with English as the medium of instruction, these students tend to be reluctant to participate due to cultural norms, according to which students, as subordinates, should not take the initiative in interaction, in order to show appropriate respect. Patterns of interaction by L2 students from racially integrated schools, however, do not conform to this set of norms as strongly. It is argued that sensitivity is required to address this situation and a number of options are presented.

A discrepancy appears to exist between the value placed on reflective journal writing by the writers of journals and the value seen by educators of that same journal writing. In this study, I explored the journal writing of six tutors working in a learning centre at a two-year community college in western Canada. I examined: (1) tutors' perspectives on the journal writing task; (2) the content and reflectivity of tutors' journals; and, (3) the accuracy of the journals in representing tutor thinking initiated by the journal writing task. The initial data collection for the study included observation of weekly in-service training sessions and examination of tutor journal entries. Tutors were interviewed about their perceptions of journal writing and their thinking around issues they wrote about in their journals. The tutor trainer was interviewed about his expectations of tutor journal writing, his reactions to tutors' journals and his perceptions of the journal writing task. After the initial data collection, the participants were given summaries of data collected in the initial phase. Tutors read the summaries and as a group discussed issues raised by the data. I interviewed the trainer about insights he had gained from the summaries. Content choices and levels of reflectivity in the tutors' journals varied widely. Factors affecting the content and levels of reflection in the tutors' journals were affected by tutors’ understanding of the journal writing task, their motivation for journal writing, their feelings of vunerability, their personal histories, their tutoring experience, their preference for writing as a mode of learning, and their purposes for writing journals. Most tutors perceived their journals as useful to them, but the tutor trainer regarded the journals as less useful. This difference in perception of the benefits of journal writing can be attributed, at least in part, to the differing levels of access of the trainer and the tutors to the benefits of journal writing. The trainer based his understanding of the benefits of journal writing on the journals themselves whereas the tutors were aware of benefits that were not apparent from studying the journals. Interviews with the tutors showed that tutors reflected more as a result of the journal writing task than was evident from their journals. The trainer’s view of the reflection initiated by the journal writing task was obscured in tutors’ journals due to the fact, that tutors reported prior reflection, provided incomplete representation of their reflective thinking, made rhetorical choices which masked their levels of reflection, and continued to reflect after completion of journal entries. Implications of the study for educators include the importance of a process approach to journal writing, the risks of assuming that journals provide an accurate picture of the reflection the task initiates, and factors for consideration in the construction of the prompt for journal writing. Implications for researchers focus on the risks of assuming that journals provide an accurate measure of the benefits of the journal writing task. Collaboration with journal writers is seen as essential for any such measure to be achieved. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Tutoring is a rapidly increasing but under-researched component of the education of immigrant students. This study examines one-on-one tutoring of Taiwanese high school immigrant students in Vancouver. Viewing tutoring as a social practice rather than an instructional tool for teaching academic content, this exploratory study attempts to understand how participants construct tutoring in the British Columbian educational context. Factors such as the patterning of tutorials, the participants' perspectives, and the wider educational context have been considered in this study. This study recruited 12 tutor-tutee pairs, 12 parents, and 10 school teachers. Tutoring interactions were tape-recorded over a ten-month period. Combining aspects of discourse analysis and qualitative research, this study used discourse analysis to study tutoring interactions and qualitative interviews to explore the participants' beliefs about tutoring and schooling. This study explored the interaction patterns of tutoring, examined the participants' assumptions and expectations, and investigated the relationship between the tutoring (informal learning) and the schooling (formal learning) process of immigrant students. The varied patterns of tutorials suggested that tutoring went beyond teaching academic content and served multiple functions for the immigrant families. The patterns focused on addressing the needs of parents and students to interact with their schools, and providing emotional and cultural support. In addition, there seemed to be conflicting voices among the participants regarding the tutorial practices. For example, participants expressed strong and opposing views about the goals of tutoring and the quantity of homework, academic content instruction and grammar instruction in tutoring and in schools. These different voices seemed to cause tensions which were explored and negotiated in tutoring interactions. Lastly, the relation between tutoring and its wider educational context was both cooperative and conflictual. For example, while tutoring offered students homework assistance, this assistance caused the school teachers to be concerned with tutor over-helping. Thus, there is a complex and interactive relationship between tutoring and the educational system. To conclude, studying tutoring as a social practice acknowledges the varied tutorial patterns, the conflicts, the dynamics, and the complexity of tutoring interactions. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Among the variety of components comprising the PSI package originally described by Keller (1968) is the use of proctors which permit immediate scoring, tutoring, and personal-social interactions. Recent research has indicated that immediate scoring may not be an essential proctor function. However, personal-social interactions and tutoring may affect student academic performance and consumer satisfaction. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of the personal-social aspect of proctoring. A counter-balanced reversal plus control group design was utilized to investigate the effects of: (a) trained and untrained proctors and (b) trained and untrained proctors who participated in a lottery which was based on student performance and satisfaction. Data were collected on proctor behaviors during grading and student academic performance and consumer satisfaction ratings. Although trained proctors and proctors with lottery contingencies seemed to engage in the target behaviors more frequently, the performance of students enrolled in the course did not seem to be differentially affected in terms of the dependent measures investigated.

Oregon Literacy, Inc., requested a study of the volunteer tutors in Multnomah County. This study is primarily based on responses to questionnaires sent to all volunteer tutors on the active list with the program in Multnomah County, including all persons who were certified in the training workshops held in 1975. Results of the questionnaire are examined, and the thesis offers a descriptive analysis of Oregon Literacy Tutors in Multnomah County, Oregon.

No description available.

The procedural problem of this action research study was to develop a parent tutor program to teach parents how to work more effectively with the homework process. The review of literature examined (a) parent involvement, (b) parent education, (c) homework, and (d) curriculum development. A formative evaluation methodology involved four phases: (a) development, (b) implementation, (c) assessment, and (d) revision. The researcher used two curriculum software packages, Peaks CourseBuilding Software and PEAKSolutions LessonBuilding Software™. developed by PEAKSolutions and Vogler in 1989, to prepare a curriculum resource guide containing leader (counselor) guidelines, syllabus, and nine lesson plans. A foundation was provided by a selfhelp book on minimizing the homework hassle entitled Parents as Tutors, written by Vogler and Hutchins in 1988. Six elementary counselors formed an advisory panel to provide formative evaluation/validation of the program during the development and revision phases. The subjects were groups of parents who volunteered to participate in parent tutor groups at three elementary schools in southwest Virginia. Four instruments were designed and used in the formative evaluation process. One was a questionnaire completed by the advisory panel. The others were completed by the participants at the beginning, during, and at the end of the parent education groups. All parents who completed the parent tutor program indicated they experienced positive involvement in the homework process for themselves as well as benefits for their children. Conclusions related to parent participant goals for and problems with the homework process, reasons for parent group attrition, leader role and parent group strategies, and the importance of evaluative data. Recommendations were provided for parent tutor groups and future research. A counselor oriented parent tutor curriculum resource guide including a syllabus and nine comprehensive lesson plans with fieldtested revisions are included in the dissertation. / Ed. D.

Lin Hin-Sze. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-160). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES --- p.ix / CHAPTER / Chapter 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Dilemma --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Purpose --- p.4 / Chapter 1.4 --- Plan of Development --- p.5 / Chapter 2 --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Feedback on Writing --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Written Comments --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Spoken Feedback --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Writing Conferences / Chapter 2.2 --- Revisions --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Revisions: Definitions and Its Role --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- The Development of Coding System in Revision Research --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3 --- Research Gap --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- "Studies Based on Attitude, Perception and Impression" --- p.28 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Studies Examining the Actual Discourse of Writing Conferences --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Studies Relating Conferences and Students' Revisions --- p.31 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Studies Examining Second Language Learners --- p.32 / Chapter 2.3.5 --- Lack of Research Studies in EFL Contexts --- p.33 / Chapter 3 --- METHODOLOGY --- p.35 / Chapter 3.1 --- Settings --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2 --- Participants --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- The Writing Tutors --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- The Student Subjects --- p.38 / Chapter 3.3 --- Data Sources and Data Collection --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Questionnaires --- p.40 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Writing Conference Interactions --- p.40 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Tutors' Reports --- p.41 / Chapter 3.3.4 --- Students' Forms --- p.41 / Chapter 3.3.5 --- Students' Texts --- p.41 / Chapter 3.3.6 --- Interviews --- p.43 / Chapter 3.4 --- Data Analysis --- p.43 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Conference Data Analysis --- p.44 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Analysis of Revisions of Writings --- p.45 / Chapter 4 --- DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF WRITING CONFERENCES --- p.47 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.47 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Coding System --- p.48 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Development of an Integrated Coding System for Writing Conference Interactions --- p.48 / Chapter 4.2.1.1 --- "Davis, Hayward, Hunter and Wallace (1989)" --- p.48 / Chapter 4.2.1.2 --- Sperling (1989) --- p.49 / Chapter 4.2.1.3 --- Newkirk (1995) --- p.50 / Chapter 4.2.1.4 --- Walker & Elias (1987) and Walker (1992) --- p.51 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Application --- p.56 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Evaluation --- p.61 / Chapter 4.3 --- An Overview of the Results and Findings --- p.61 / Chapter 4.4 --- The Structure of Writing Conferences in the EFL Context --- p.62 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- The Overall Structure --- p.62 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Inform --- p.63 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Elicitation --- p.67 / Chapter 4.4.4 --- Reread --- p.72 / Chapter 4.4.5 --- Elaboration --- p.74 / Chapter 4.4 --- The Function of Writing Conference Talk in the EFL Context --- p.76 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- The Higher Frequency Categories --- p.77 / Chapter 4.5.1.1 --- Marker --- p.78 / Chapter 4.5.1.2 --- Explanation --- p.81 / Chapter 4.5.1.3 --- Knowledge on Revision --- p.86 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- The Low Frequency Categories --- p.89 / Chapter 4.5.2.1 --- Preliminary --- p.89 / Chapter 4.5.2.2 --- Requests --- p.91 / Chapter 4.5.2.3 --- In-conference Revisions --- p.91 / Chapter 5 --- STUDENTS' REVISION BEHAVIOR --- p.93 / Chapter 5.1 --- Overview of Results and Findings --- p.93 / Chapter 5.2 --- Comparison Across the Papers --- p.96 / Chapter 5.3 --- Types of revisions --- p.99 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Surface Changes --- p.100 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Meaning Changes --- p.102 / Chapter 5.4 --- Types of revision operations --- p.106 / Chapter 5.4.1 --- The Most Frequently Employed Operation 一 Addition --- p.110 / Chapter 5.4.2 --- The Least Frequently Employed Operations --- p.113 / Chapter 6 --- THE LINK BETWEEN WRITING CONFERENCES AND REVISIONS --- p.119 / Chapter 6.1 --- Students' Revision Activities --- p.119 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- Revision that Can Be Traced back to Conferences --- p.119 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Suggestions in Conferences that Did Not Result in Actual Revision --- p.121 / Chapter 6.1.3 --- Revision that Cannot Be Traced back to Conferences --- p.128 / Chapter 6.2 --- The Structure of the Successful Conferences --- p.132 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Tutors' and Students' Talk --- p.133 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- The structural categories --- p.136 / Chapter 6.3 --- The Function of Conference Talk in the Successful Conferences --- p.137 / Chapter 7 --- CONCLUSION --- p.143 / Chapter 7.1 --- Discourse Analysis of EFL Writing Conferences --- p.144 / Chapter 7.1.1 --- Allocation of Talk --- p.144 / Chapter 7.1.2 --- The Focus of Writing Conferences --- p.145 / Chapter 7.2 --- Students Revising Processes and the Relationship with the Writing Conferences --- p.146 / Chapter 7.3 --- "Strengths, Weakness and Limitations of the Study" --- p.148 / Chapter 7.4 --- Implications and Recommendations --- p.151 / Chapter 7.5 --- Contribution to this Field --- p.151 / REFERENCES --- p.154 / APPENDICES --- p.161 / Appendix 1 Exempt Protocol For Using Human Subjects in Research --- p.162 / Appendix 2 Consent Form for Student Subjects --- p.166 / Appendix 3 Consent Form for Writing Tutors --- p.167 / Appendix 4 Transcripts of Writing Conferences --- p.168 / Appendix 5 Initial and Subsequent Drafts of Students' Writings --- p.273