Teacher Professional Learning In Multiliteracies Pedagogy: Exploring The Lived Curriculum Of Preservice And In-Service Educators, Joelle Nagle

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this exploratory case study is to examine the lived curriculum (Aoki, 1993) of preservice teachers enrolled in a Bachelor of Education language arts course and in-service teachers enrolled in an online graduate program, both with a focus on multiliteracies pedagogy. Through this study, the rationale is to understand how these formal professional learning experiences shape teachers’ perceptions of their literacy pedagogy. Specifically, the aim is to gain insight into how to promote multiliteracies pedagogy in preservice and in-service professional learning. This dissertation research builds upon two qualitative exploratory case studies (Stake, 2010; Yin, 2012) rooted in a …

Increasing Collective Teacher Efficacy Through Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit And Coaching: A Community-Based Approach, Brenda Mercer

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Abstract

Instructional coaching in one remote northern community focuses on teacher mentorship and professional learning and prioritizes the implementation of prepackaged literacy resources. This focus on the implementation of prepackaged programs and data collection, promotes neo-liberal priorities and the privatization of education, over the methods that support the inclusion of Inuit cultural knowledge. Kostogriz (2011) states that we should be cautious about accepting the neo-liberal discourse of the literacy crisis and standardized reforms, the author suggests that low levels of literacy are not a large-scale problem so much as a result of under-provision of a socially just education.

This Problem …

Does Lexical Frequency Affect Rater Judgement Of Essays? An Experimental Design Using Quantitative And Qualitative Data, Mohammad Muneer Ul-Huda

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Many correlational studies show a positive relation between written assessments of language and use of more diverse vocabulary (Lexical Diversity) and more infrequent words (Lexical Frequency). However, there have been no experimental studies that have isolated the effects of Lexical Frequency from Lexical Diversity. In the present study, 14 raters judged two versions of the same essay that differed only in Lexical Frequency. A Paired T-test showed no difference in mean scores between essays (t(13) = .396, p = .70) when the Lexical Frequency of 23.5% of Content Words were changed in a 347 word essay. Comments explaining …

Weighing Up Exercises On Phrasal Verbs: Retrieval Versus Trial-And-Error Practices, Brian Strong, Frank Boers

Education Publications

EFL textbooks and internet resources exhibit various formats and implementations of exercises on phrasal verbs. The experimental study reported here examines whether some of these might be more effective than others. EFL learners at a university in Japan were randomly assigned to four treatment groups. Two groups were presented first with phrasal verbs and their meaning before they were prompted to retrieve the particles from memory. The difference between these two retrieval groups was that one group studied and then retrieved items one at a time, while the other group studied and retrieved them in sets. The two other groups …

Multimodal Dissertations: Opportunities For Multimodality In Higher Education, Annie Tran

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

multiliteracies, multimodality, higher education, technology, communication, dissertations, graduate education

In an era when communication and higher education are rapidly changing, there is much to learn about multimodality and the dissertation. For example, how can multimodality be used to forward an argument or inform research in a dissertation? How is technology changing the format of the dissertation? And how might multimodality and technology change the experience of composing a dissertation? This study addresses dissertations and the problem of understanding how research can be argued, represented, and presented in multimodal ways, and considers the lived curriculum of Ph.D. graduate students. My work …

English Language Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Michael James Karas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation investigates English language teacher self-efficacy beliefs. Based in Bandura’s (1997) sociocognitive perspective, teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, their beliefs about their capabilities to enact various teaching tasks, have been shown to be impactful on numerous aspects of teachers’ professional lives. Research in both general education and language teacher education has shown that more efficacious teachers are often more motivated, exert a greater effort when teaching, have a higher morale, and can even positively impact their students.

Drawing on survey data from N = 571 participants across a variety of English language teaching contexts, this thesis takes an integrated article format …

Intercultural Experience And Learning Among Eap International Students, Joan M. Plonski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The trend toward greater enrolment of EFL speaking international students into institutions of higher education (IHE) in the West, is well documented. In response to this drive for greater levels of international participant, a newer trend has arisen: among these institutions more and more students who do not meet the language proficiency criteria are being accepted on the condition that they undergo and complete programs at specified language education institutions.

This shift in cross-border EFL student enrolment practice is responsible for the creation of adjunct language schools, where students who have been accepted to a given university may be educated …

Constructing Opportunities: A Multiple Case Study Of The Semiotic Demands And Supports In Elementary Classroom Curricula, Emma Cooper

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Limited evidence supports how multimodal pedagogy considers how modes, as constructed by teachers and children, vary across disciplines. This literature gap is potentially problematic for connections arising between facilitation of modes by educators to semiotic demands placed on children. Literature identifies multimodal pedagogy as a way to expand on traditional notions of literacy to assist children in representing meaning through modal constructions. Research focusing on spaces across curriculum available for explicit teaching of semiotics through multimodal pedagogy, and consequences when these spaces are and are not capitalized upon, is needed; it is hoped the study makes its contributions here. The …