Matching Items (3)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: pedagogy
- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
- Resource Type: Text
Description
This dissertation delves into some EFL stakeholders' understanding of spiritual identities and power relations associated with these identities as performed in an undergraduate EFL teacher education program at a Christian university in Indonesia. This study is motivated by an ongoing debate over the place of spirituality, especially Christianity, in ELT. In this project, religions are considered to be windows through which one's spirituality is viewed and expressed. Spiritually associated relations of power indicate discrepancies due to positioning of one person committed to a spiritual view in relation to those having similar or different spiritual views. The purpose of exploring spiritually associated identities and power relations is to provide empirical evidence which supports the following arguments. The integration of spirituality in ELT, or lack thereof, can be problematic. More importantly, however, spirituality can be enriching for some EFL teachers and students alike, and be presented together with critical ELT. To explore the complexity of power relations associated with some EFL stakeholders' spiritual identities, I analyzed data from classroom observations, four focus group discussions from February to April 2014, and individual interviews with 23 teachers and students from February to September 2014. Findings showed that Christian and non-Christian English teachers had nuanced views regarding the place of prayer in ELT-related activities, professionalism in ELT, and ways of negotiating spiritually associated power relations in ELT contexts. Students participating in this study performed their spiritual identities in ways that can be perceived as problematic (e.g., by being very dogmatic or evangelical) or self-reflexive. Classroom observations helped me to see more clearly how Christian English teachers interacted with their students from different religious backgrounds. In one class, a stimulating dialogue seemed to emerge when a teacher accommodated both critical and religious views to be discussed. This project culminates in my theorization of the praxis of critical spiritual pedagogy in ELT. Central to this praxis are (a) raising the awareness of productive power and power relations associated with spiritual identities; (b) learning how to use defiant discourses in negotiating spiritually associated power relations; and (c) nurturing self-reflexivity critically and spiritually.
ContributorsMambu, Joseph Ernest (Author) / Matsuda, Paul Kei (Thesis advisor) / Friedrich, Patricia (Committee member) / Prior, Matthew T. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The purpose of this study is to impact the teaching and learning of math of 2nd through 4th grade math students at Porfirio H. Gonzales Elementary School. The Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) model serves as the independent variable for this study. Its intent is to promote math instruction that emphasizes problem-solving to a greater degree and facilitates higher level questioning of teachers during their instructional dialogue with students. A mixed methods approach is being employed to see how the use of the CGI model of instruction impacts the math achievement of 2nd through 4th grade students on quarterly benchmark assessments administered at this school, to see how students problem-solving abilities progress over the duration of the study, and to see how teacher practices in questioning progress. Quantitative methods are used to answer the first of these research questions using archival time series (Amrein & Berliner, 2002) to view trends in achievement before and after the implementation of the CGI model. Qualitative methods are being used to answer questions around students' progression in their problem-solving abilities and teacher questioning to get richer descriptions of how these constructs evolve over the course of the study.
ContributorsMedrano Cotito, Juan (Author) / Ann, Keith (Thesis advisor) / David, Carlson L (Committee member) / Thomas, Heck (Committee member) / Reynaldo, Rivera (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This project is an institutional ethnography (Smith, 2005, 2006) that examines the lived experiences of nine second language (L2) writing teachers, specifically with regard to the interpersonal, material, and spatial relationships inherent in their work. Using interviews, focus groups, and a mapping heuristic for data collection, the study investigates the current culture of L2 writing that is (or is not) created within this specialized community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and the individual participant motivations as actors within a complex and dynamic network (Latour, 2007). Because findings from the study are relevant for a variety of fields and audiences, the dissertation is separated into three freestanding but interrelated articles.
Article one focuses on the data of one participant whose teaching roles/ranks in the writing program shifted over time: from graduate teaching associate to part-time adjunct faculty member to full-time non-tenure track writing instructor. Article two uses all nine participants’ data and focuses on their perceptions of and experiences with L2-specific teacher training. Results share the perceived benefits and drawbacks of teacher training to specialize in working with multilingual student populations considering various material conditions present in the institution. In addition, the article locates additional programmatic spaces where professionalization happens (or can happen), and ultimately assesses and questions the justification of specialization of teachers within the writing program and where that specialization can/should occur. Article three reflects on a specific data collection technique—a mapping heuristic—and discusses the ways in which this method is beneficial, not only for observing the different connections that L2 writing teachers create in their work lives, but also for collecting data in any institutional ethnographic study.
While these three articles are intended to be independent of one another, together they comprise a dissertation-length institutional ethnographic inquiry that demonstrates the diverse voices, motivations, and experiences of second language writing teachers that inform the decisions made in an institution known as a writing program. WPAs can use the knowledge and takeaways gained in the study to learn more about how to support and advocate for this important stakeholder group.
Article one focuses on the data of one participant whose teaching roles/ranks in the writing program shifted over time: from graduate teaching associate to part-time adjunct faculty member to full-time non-tenure track writing instructor. Article two uses all nine participants’ data and focuses on their perceptions of and experiences with L2-specific teacher training. Results share the perceived benefits and drawbacks of teacher training to specialize in working with multilingual student populations considering various material conditions present in the institution. In addition, the article locates additional programmatic spaces where professionalization happens (or can happen), and ultimately assesses and questions the justification of specialization of teachers within the writing program and where that specialization can/should occur. Article three reflects on a specific data collection technique—a mapping heuristic—and discusses the ways in which this method is beneficial, not only for observing the different connections that L2 writing teachers create in their work lives, but also for collecting data in any institutional ethnographic study.
While these three articles are intended to be independent of one another, together they comprise a dissertation-length institutional ethnographic inquiry that demonstrates the diverse voices, motivations, and experiences of second language writing teachers that inform the decisions made in an institution known as a writing program. WPAs can use the knowledge and takeaways gained in the study to learn more about how to support and advocate for this important stakeholder group.
ContributorsO'Meara, Katherine Daily (Author) / Matsuda, Paul Kei (Thesis advisor) / Rose, Shirley K. (Committee member) / James, Mark A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016