Digital Commons Network^™

Profiling Esl Children: How Teachers Interpret And Use National And State Assessment Frameworks: Volume 1: Key Issues & Findings, Michael P. Breen, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Beverly Derewianka, Helen House, Catherine Hudson, Tom Lumley, Mary Rohl

Research outputs pre 2011

The three volumes which make up this study describe in detail how a number of teachers in different school situations in different parts of Australia undertook the assessment of young children's development of English as a second language. Most of the teachers worked in pre-primary to Year 3 classrooms where the majority of the children were aged between five and eight years. The majority worked in a mainstream context in which the number of children speaking English as a second language (ESL) varied from more than half the class to two or three students. About a third of the teachers …

Profiling Esl Children: How Teachers Interpret And Use National And State Assessment Frameworks: Volume 2: The Western Australia Case Studies, Michael P. Breen, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Beverly Derewianka, Helen House, Catherine Hudson, Tom Lumley, Mary Rohl

Research outputs pre 2011

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of The Behaviours Exhibited By Boys (Identified As At-Risk) While Using The Computer For Creative Writing, Danielle Fisher

Theses : Honours

This study investigated the types of behaviours which were displayed by boys (whose teachers had identified them as at-risk), using the courseware package Storybook Weaver Deluxe for creative writing. Three boys from year six and three boys from year seven, from the same metropolitan government school participated in the study and were observed using the courseware package over a period of six weeks, during a one hour session per week. Video tape recordings and substantially non participant observations were made of the individual participants as they used the courseware package in a whole class situation. Individual interviews were conducted with …

Theory Of Mind Deficits In Children With Intellectual Disabilities : A Test Of Specificity And Uniqueness Hypotheses, Dianne Campbell

Theses : Honours

This study was designed to determine (a) whether children with intellectual disabilities have a theory of mind deficit relative to younger children of the same verbal mental age and (b) whether theory of mind in children with intellectual disabilities is domain-specific or related to other general cognitive functions. A group of 15 children with intellectual disabilities (mean age= 10;0), 15 children of average intelligence (mean age= 10;0) and 15 children of average intelligence (mean age= 6:0) matched on verbal mental age with the children with intellectual disabilities. The children were given a series of theory of mind tasks. The children …

Homozygosity Levels In Consanguineous Populations: A Study Of The Sankethi Community, Karnataka, India, Janet Cahill

Theses : Honours

The project has studied the inheritance of microsatellite alleles across four chromosomes within two multi-generation families from a highly endogamous community, the Sankethi of Karnataka, India. The two families each have members from four generations participating in the study. Finger prick blood samples and detailed pedigree information were collected from subjects in India. DNA was extracted from the blood spot samples using a phenol-chloroform technique, and analysed by spectrophotometry to determine DNA concentrations. Fluorescent markers from chromosomes 15, 16, 17 & 18 were amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques on a Perkin Elmer 96 well thermocycler. The PCR products …

The Assessment And Evaluation Of Esl Children's Writing : A Case Study Of One Esl Primary Child, Liza Phillips

Theses : Honours

The assessment and evaluation of the literacy achievements of ESL learners is emerging as a contentious issue in Australian schools. However, at this time no studies appear to be completed that focus on the identification of features of ESL children's writing and the processes involved in using the frameworks available in Western Australia to assess and evaluate ESL students. In this study, a qualitative research design was employed. Data were collected from one Year Five ESL student over a three week period in order to determine: a) which features of his English writing were identified by each evaluative framework available …

Teaching Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondence Rules To Children With Learning Difficulties : An Implementation Of The Fernald Method, Paula Kinsman

Theses : Honours

A single subject design was used to investigate the effectiveness of the Fernald method as an instructional technique for teaching phoneme-grapheme correspondence rules. Participants were tour primary grade children with learning difficulties in reading. Intervention training focussed on teaching phoneme-grapheme correspondence rules through the implementation of an adapted version of the Fernald method. The two dependent variables were word recognition and fluency rates. The design of the study allowed analysis of maintenance and generalisation of the relevant variables. Results demonstrated an increase in word recognition skills and fluency rates by all four children with learning difficulties. Maintenance of these gains …

Profiling Esl Children: How Teachers Interpret And Use National And State Assessment Frameworks: Volume 3: The Eastern States Case Studies, Michael P. Breen, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Beverly Derewianka, Helen House, Catherine Hudson, Tom Lumley, Mary Rohl

Research outputs pre 2011

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Glass Border: Barriers To Global Careers For Women Managers, Catherine R. Smith, Leonie V. Still

Research outputs pre 2011

The identification and placement of managers who can meet the business challenges at both local and international level is critical to the success of a company's overseas operations. North American and British research shows that, while organisations may be prepared to promote women into their domestic managerial hierarchy, few women currently have access to international careers through expatriate management appointments. This report describes an investigation of the selection, placement and management development by Australian organisations of women for international managerial assignments. Interest in this topic arose from the outcomes of the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills (1995), …

Student And Teacher Perceptions Of Teaching/Learning Processes In Classrooms: How Close Is The Partnership?, Robert G. Barker, Wally Moroz

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

As Hornstein observed in the beginning of the 1990s, the "enduring pattern" of instruction in social studies lessons is that which revolves around traditional "teacher centred and text-centred" teaching strategies (Hornstein, 1990). However, other research programs which have investigated the status of social studies (Cuban, 1991; Good and Harmon, 1987; Haladyna, Shaughnessy and Redsun, 1982a) have indicated that the core subject rates well with students when teaching strategies are interactive, inductive, and student centred. As Hutchens (1993) found, students became "hooked" on social studies when it involved cooperative learning, and student research strategies. In 1995, Moroz, Baker and McDonald, reported …

Practice Teaching In Remote Aboriginal Communities: The Need For Adaptation To The Social And Cultural Context, Gary Partington

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

As part of the teacher education program at Edith Cowan University, a small group of student teachers experience teaching practice in remote Aboriginal communities. In this paper, student teacher perceptions of their experiences on such a practice are presented to illustrate the influence of the practice on their views about teaching Aboriginal children. Through an investigation of journals written during the practice, it is apparent that students had considerable difficulty adapting their teaching to the context in which they were working, particularly in relation to the different cultural and social demands of the situation.

Errors In Pronunciation Of Consonants By Indonesian, Gayo And Acehnese Learners Of English As A Foreign Language, Ingrid B. Mathew

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis reports on research into consonantal phoneme pronunciation errors in the English of EFL learners from three different first language groups in the province of Aceh, northern Sumatra, Indonesia. It is a qualitative study, describing the errors found for each first language group. Error data was collected from each participant in the language laboratory using an aural discrimination test, a word repetition test and a reading passage test, and also from interviews with each participant which were recorded on audio cassettes. Analysis and explanation of the error data then followed. There were eight participants from each of the three …

Postmodernism And Children's Picture Books, Jane Siddall

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.

Vers Une Typologie Des Actualites Televisees Sur L'Abc (Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Australie Occidentale) Et Sur France 2, Maryleen C.H. Troubat

Theses : Honours

This thesis is a comparative study of the evening news on the public television channels ARC (Western Australia) and France 2. It also investigates the notion of television news in Australia and France. Television news has become a dominant source of information for most people in developed countries. We propose to study the characteristics of the evening television news on ARC and France 2 and examine news as specific discourse and the different ways it is transmitted to the audience. This work also explores the use of sources, reports and interviews. Our study also uses recent French theories in discourse …

Secondary Arts Teachers' Perceptions Of Integrated Arts, Jeanette Giroud

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

During the 1980s, research in the arts by Project Zero and Arts Propel revealed that in American schooling the areas of artistic intelligence and artistic education had been neglected. Gardner (1989) proposed a theory of multiple intelligences, suggesting that in addition to the linguistic and logical-mathematical forms, there are a number of distinct forms of intelligence that each individual may possess in varying degrees. The concept of multiple intelligences as opposed to "talent" in an art form offers the opportunity to view arts education in a new light. The original purpose of Arts Propel was to assess artistic potential in …

Teacher Attitudes To Approaches To Teacher Education In Adult Tesol, Paul Mercieca

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study looked closely at the attitudes of TESOL teachers to a range of approaches to teacher education, with particular emphasis on the role of classroom observation. The influence of pre- and in-service training and the school environment was probed through semi-structured interviews and confirmatory discussions. Participants for this qualitative study were practising TESOL teachers at the Centre for International English, Curtin University, Western Australia. The approach taken was to allow them, as far as possible, to identify issues in teacher education for themselves. At the same time, their words were used, where possible, to describe attitudes to these issues. …

Australia As Other In Singapore's Media, Lai W. Woo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Since the late eighteenth century, the Western observation of the East has been based on shared ontological and epistemological assumptions made by the West of the East as different and as the "Other''. Said's concept of Orientalism revolutionized Western understanding of non-Western cultures by showing how Western projected images shaped the Occidental view of the Orient. Although much has been written about the West's perception of the East as "Other'' (Eg. Said and Schirato), to date, little has been written dealing with the West from, the "Eastern" viewpoint. This thesis will examine the concepts of Orientalism (the perception of the …

Teachers Of Mathematics Teach Mathematics Differently : A Case Study Of Two Teachers, Jennie Bickmore-Brand

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis investigates the different approaches adopted by two teachers for teaching mathematical content at the upper primary level of education. Questions have been raised by researchers about the impact teachers' philosophical background may have on their perception of how mathematics should be taught. Similarly questions have been asked about the role of content in mathematics education in relation to the process of education. The two teachers held different beliefs about what they were doing when they were teaching mathematics and why they were teaching that way. Their methodological emphases were different; one could be described as being more learner-centred …

Through A Glass Darkly, Seeking The Common Ground: The Value Of Derrida's Two Interpretations Of Interpretation For Reading Literature In Religious Education, Helen E. Collins

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis investigates and demonstrates the value of using Derrida's "two interpretations of interpretation" (the Rousseauistic and the Nietzschean) to enrich the reading of literature in Religious Education with reference to I.e Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea. Religious Education has responded in recent decades to developments in pedagogy, theology, and various other disciplines such as psychology and sociology. However, religious educators do not seem to have considered the question of the impact of modern literary theory on Religious Education. Such theories have influenced the way in which literature is read and studied in the English classroom. Such developments should be …

The Mirror Within: An Art Therapy Research Project Identifying The Links Between Anorexia Nervosa, Object Relations And The Potential Role Of Art As The Transitional Object, Bronwen Gray

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research focuses on the use of art therapy with female teenage clients suffering from anorexia nervosa. The aim was to undertake a pilot study that would establish whether art therapy could assist in identifying anorexic clients' ego boundary delineations using an object relations framework (That is, either enmeshed, inter related or isolated). Utilising Elkisch's picture analysis procedure, client art works were analysed by contrasting positive and negative characteristics as a way of gaining insight into the client's boundary delineation cognition. Five female subjects aged between thirteen and sixteen, who were taking part in the eating disorders program, located in …

Increasing Eye Contact And Appropriate Verbalizations Of Young Children With Autistic Characteristics, Ping P. Seah

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Social skills have been widely regarded by researchers and educators to be crucial to successful school performances as well as an individual's overall social functioning. The need to be competent in social skills increases for children with autism or autistic characteristics. A teaching strategy was modelled and taught to increase appropriate verbal and nonverbal responses of the participants through sociodramatic play with the researcher and trained peers. Hats and toys belonging to various occupations were used as training material. The two dependent variables measured were the number of appropriate verbalizations and total length of eye contact time given by each …

Children's Services In Denmark : A Contextual Analysis And Critique, Teresa A. Harms

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The late 1990’s in Australia have seen major stresses in State and Federal systems of early years provision and have highlighted the need to develop an integrated approach to early years policy and provision to meet better the changing needs of Australian families. As an experienced Australian practitioner in the early years, the researcher decided to explore another country’s approach to early childhood provision and to contextualise her Australian experience from a fresh perspective. In Kandel’s (1933, 1955) terms, this is a classic area study rather than one which seeks to merely to compare and contrast.

Code-Switching Amongst Simalungun-Indonesian Bilinguals, Sylvia Saragih

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study investigates code-switching within a bilingual speech community. The languages used in this community are Indonesian, the national language 9f Indonesia, and Simalungun, one of the regional languages spoken in North Sumatra. Conversations amongst young bilinguals with balanced competence in both languages were recorded and passages containing examples of code-switching were transcribed for analysis. It was found that the base language of interaction was Simalungun, but that code-switching into Indonesian occurred in all conversations recorded. Analysis of the language data collected led to the conclusion that code-switching was used by the speakers in different ways. Indonesian loans were used …

Teaching Visual Arts Through Distance Education : An Evaluation Of The Program Anyone Can Draw, Jane Whelan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The problem under investigation is concerned with the teaching of drawing through distance education. Traditionally drawing has occupied a central position in visual art teaching and learning and is still regarded as a significant area of visual arts education. In the visual arts curriculum of Western Australia, drawing, which is included in the broader term visual inquiry, is regarded as the foundation for studio practice. It is therefore appropriate to include drawing as part of every visual arts teaching program. The correspondence mode of teaching, which has a text-base, is a more formal style of teaching art than the responsive …

Citizenship Education: Australian And Singaporean Perspectives, Richard Berlach

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The issue of what it means to be a citizen of a country is currently on the educational agenda in both Australia and Singapore. It seems that over the years, both nations have realised that the schooling system is a powerful and effective vehicle through which a country’s united vision can be disseminated, and through which individuals can be encouraged to make a valuable contribution to the national good. For a variety of reasons, however, the nature of a united vision appears to be problematic for both Australia as well as Singapore. With both countries being considered, this paper presents …

Illustrated Dictionary Of The South-West Aboriginal Language, Wilf Douglas

Research outputs pre 2011

No abstract provided.

Proceedings Of The 21st Annual Conference Of The Western Australian Science Education Association, Mark W. Hackling (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

The Western Australian Science Education Association (WASEA) is an informal group of science educators that meets annually for a conference at one of the Perth universities. The conference is organised by a committee of representatives from the universities and has contributed greatly to collegiality amongst the community of science educators in Perth.

The first meeting of WASEA was held at the Churchlands College of Advanced Education in 1975 and has been held each year except in 1979 and 1991 when the W ASEA meeting was incorporated into the meeting of the Australian (now Australasian) Science Education Research Association.

These Proceedings …

International Networking: Education, Training And Change, Nerida F. Ellerton (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

The decision to inaugurate the International Networking Conference to focus on education, training and change was a direct result of the Higher Education/UNESCO Conference which was held in Cyprus in 1992. I was given the opportunity of delivering a paper on some of the problems associated with managing an internationally respected performing arts institution in the most remote capital city in the world-Perth, Western Australia.

Upon my return to Perth I broached the notion of conducting an international conference in Western Australia which would highlight issues and problems relative to higher education programs in Australia, Asia and the Indian Ocean …

Migrant Woman As 'Undecidable' : Migrant Subjectivity, The Crocodile Fury By Beth Yahp And The Mule's Foal By Fontini Epanomitis, Sally Cloake

Theses : Honours

In this thesis I demonstrate how a notion of decentred subjectivity better describes marginal subject positions than the concept of unified subjectivity which depends on a discriminatory binary conceptualisation. I identify the migrant position as an aporia from which to deconstruct such concepts as unified subjectivity, as the migrant refuses classification according to dichotomous structures. I use Derridean metaphors to show the falseness and unexamined essentialism inherent in binary oppositions. I use a combination of theorists, and especially Helime Cixous, to augment my primarily Derridean reading of migrant subjectivity within the texts: The Crocodile Fury by Beth Yahp and The …

An Investigation Into An Effective Method Of Automatically Analysing Oracle Applications To Count Function Points, J. L. Wong

Theses : Honours

Function Point Analysis (FPA) is a synthetic software estimation metric used for computing the size and complexity of applications. It was first introduced by Allan. J. Albrecht during the mid-seventies, as a result of a lengthy research based on applications that were developed using COBOL and PL/1 programming languages. The purpose of this research· is to investigate the possibility, and the most effective method, of automatically performing a Function Point Analysis on Oracle applications that consist of Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports. The research revealed a seemingly lack of other researches on this topic. As FPA was invented a few …