Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemArticulating the theatre experience : ways in which students respond to the theatre experience, individually, collectively & within the context of the curriculum( 2005)This thesis investigates how a class of senior Drama students experience the event that is theatre performance. The theatre experience is at the very heart of this study, both as a personal one, and as it is framed within the parameters of the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) Drama Curriculum. Five themes emerge from the study: the role of cultural contexts; the role of prior experience; knowing versus not knowing measuring the theatre experience; and the impact of curriculum and assessment criteria on student responses. The findings of the study suggest that the subject of Drama provides entry into an aesthetic world that is not necessarily accessible through other subjects. It indicates that a range of cultural contexts and prior experiences create a frame through which students experience new theatre performances. The study indicates that the immediate and transient nature of a performance text is inherently difficult to measure but rather, relies on the measuring of the memory of that experience. Finally, the study suggests that there is a gap between the process through which students make meaning from their experiences, and the process by which the curriculum asks them to respond to the aesthetic experience that is theatre. The implications of this investigation are that the teaching of theatre text and the design of curriculum documents needs to more carefully acknowledge the cultural framing, prior experiences, and personal aesthetics that students bring to that experience. Further, it asks Drama educators to consider whether aesthetic experiences are indeed assessable and, if so, how that can be achieved in ways that acknowledge the complex nature of responses to a text that exists only in the memory of those who have seen it.
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ItemIssues of curriculum transition from secondary to tertiary drama education( 2005)This case study aims to explore issues of curriculum transition for those students moving from secondary to tertiary study in drama and theatre studies. Its purpose is to examine the relationship between first year tertiary drama and theatre studies courses and VCE Drama/Theatre Studies, and whether these tertiary courses are meeting the needs of those students who have this particular VCE study as their foundation. As a means of investigating this issue, a group of first year tertiary students was selected as participants after they had enrolled in the unit Body, Text and Performance offered by the School of Creative Arts at the University of Melbourne through the Theatre Studies stream. Other participants included the coordinating lecturer, as well as the tutors delivering the practical component of the curriculum. This qualitative study seeks to examine the nature of this unit through the responses and attitudes of both students and staff. As a secondary drama teacher, VCAA Examiner and Auditor, the researcher has witnessed directly the marked improvement in senior drama education since the introduction of VCE in 1991. This study seeks to ascertain to what extent tertiary courses have responded to these changes in the VCE and whether curriculum at this level is informed by students' previous experiences, knowledge and learning from their secondary senior schooling.
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ItemEvaluating a peer mediation program : the perspectives of key stakeholders( 2006)Peer mediation has developed as a popular means of responding to and managing conflict in schools. Advocates of peer mediation assert that it is an effective method of encouraging students to resolve conflict constructively and can encourage responsible citizenship. This study emerged as a result of the researcher's involvement in a peer mediation program in a large regional girls' secondary college. The study explored the perspectives of key stakeholders (students, teachers and parents) on the impact of the peer mediation program and sought to establish what benefits, if any, were derived from the existence of the program. Specifically, the research focused on whether the program was supported, accepted and used by the school community and whether the perceptions of the program were congruent amongst different stakeholder groups. The study also investigated what outcomes were experienced by the trained mediators themselves. Factors which might encourage or limit students' use of the program were also explored. Data was collected prior to the training of a specific cohort of mediators and in the following year from key groups: the trained students, other students within the school setting, staff and parents. The findings indicate that the presence of a peer mediation program was seen to have a considerable positive effect on school climate by teachers and parents and that, in many cases, it produced positive outcomes for students. The most meaningful outcomes of the specific study, however, appeared to be the benefits for the trained mediators themselves, in terms of the development and enhancement of self confidence and life skills. The implications of the findings for the peer mediation program in the case study school and for other schools implementing peer mediation programs are discussed in this report.
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ItemThe influence of information and communication technology (ICT) on secondary school students' development in Japanese handwriting skills( 2008)For twenty years, researchers have suggested that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilitates language learning by motivating students (e.g. Rodrigues and Rodrigues, 1986; Phinney, 1989; Pennington and Brock, 1992; Felix 2001). In particular, research concludes that ICT positively changes students' attitudes towards writing, because it reduces the fear of making mistakes. Despite considerable research on the value of ICT in the learning of European languages and ESL, few studies have been conducted on its use in Japanese classes (Chikamatsu, 2003), especially at the early secondary level. Yet it is often said that Japanese is one of the most difficult languages for English native speakers to learn (Chikamatsu, 2003), and its writing system is regarded as the most complex in the world (Sproat, 2000). Hence ICT might be expected to facilitate learning the three different sets of symbols used in combination to write Japanese, but it is not commonly used by secondary students for this. In this study, the aim was to document and analyse the achievements of beginner level school learners of Japanese when ICT was introduced for learning basic Japanese using mainly the phonetic Hiragana syllabary. Following methods created by Chikamatsu (2003), the effectiveness of using ICT was determined by comparing the speed and accuracy of students' answers in vocabulary tests, and interviewing them about their learning processes using ICT. The results show that, while the use of ICT motivated students' learning and assisted the weaker students to speed up their writing and to write more correctly, the excessive use of ICT had a negative influence on students' handwriting skills, an ability required in final year examinations as well as in real life. Thus students in the experimental group who used only the computer produced more errors when transferring to writing Japanese by hand. Findings therefore suggest that computers should only be used as a supplementary tool in class to stimulate students' learning.
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ItemSelf-perception and academic performance in mathematics: a study of a group of normal technical (nt) students in a girls' school in Singapore( 2008)Self-perceptions of students are determinants of healthy psychological development and school success. Research on the associations between students' self-perceptions and their academic performance is of great importance in the educational realm. There have been limited studies investigating students' self-perceptions in Singapore. Hence, this study aims to examine students' perceptions of Mathematics, academic and general self. It sought to provide insights in relation to how these self-perceptions correlated with each other, and academic achievement with particular focus on Mathematics. Students' sentiments on the Normal Technical stream were also explored. A mixed methods approach was used for data collection. Quantitative data were derived from a questionnaire and students' Mathematics and overall academic results. The self-perception scores were measured by Self-Description Questionnaire - II (SDQII) to yield three scores: Mathematics, Academic-school and General Self-perceptions. Qualitative data was obtained from a group interview using semi-structured questions. The study involved thirty-seven students from the Normal Technical stream in a girls' school in Singapore. Eight students were involved in the group interview. Insights were gained about how students perceived Mathematics, academic school, general self and streaming. Firstly, the study found that Mathematics self-perception correlated strongly with Mathematics performance. Secondly, statistical evidence indicates that students had higher means for self-perceptions than academic achievements. Thirdly, evidence suggests that students' perception of academic-school is strongly correlated to their general self-perception. Finally, students resented the stigma that is attached to the Normal Technical stream, which regarded them negatively. Implications for practice and further research in the three areas of self-perception and academic achievement are also discussed.
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ItemSpeaking in a second language: strategic interactions( 2005)The purpose of this study is to improve speaking skills in a second language. It focuses on a group of Year 11 students who, in spite of learning French for between 6 and 12 years, are still reluctant to speak it. The interest in investigating speaking skills stems from years of witnessing the students' frustration and experiencing my own while following the communicative approach in teaching French as a second language. The research project offered an opportunity to address speaking difficulties in the target language classroom and to explore a new way in dealing with them. The study places an emphasis on the classroom where the learning takes place; learning being situated in a social context whose language differs from the one being studied. More specifically, this study examines the extent to which classroom practices of speaking can encourage this group of learners to use the target language more often by creating an authentic communicative context, similar to that encountered in real life. The simulation of real life necessitates, however, the deployment of a communicative technique which facilitates the transfer between the inside classroom reality and the outside world in which the foreign language operates. Imagination, combined with a potential opportunity for self-projection into a new role and self-expression leading to the achievement of a meaningful purpose become key to a successful transfer. The chosen technique which embodies these four components is the scenario, developed by Di Pietro in 1987, at the heart of which lies the principle of "Strategic Interactions", whereby the learner is required to enact a role in the target language with the purpose of fulfilling a personal agenda or arriving at a resolution of an issue through interacting with others. The study argues that speaking, like other linguistic skills, can be acquired in the classroom if students are consciously given the time, space and voice along with a meaningful context and a purpose, all complemented by an explicit teaching of the target language in context. Moreover, the study claims that the practice of speaking in the classroom should be first and foremost the goal of all second language learning programs. The difficulty of speaking in a second language is not, however, new. It is the classic problem of most learners and has been investigated in literature since the late 1960s. While extensive work has been done to explore the causes, less work has been conducted about successful implementations of speaking programs. Without underestimating the underlying causes which inhibit speaking, this research has a pragmatic orientation; it will experiment with a technique which is conceived to encourage the use of the target language in the classroom and then examine its impacts on students' speaking behaviour. It is worth noting that while this study is exploratory in nature, it also hopes to improve speaking amongst these students who are pursuing learning French in year 12, particularly since Year 12 French is considerably based on oral assessment. The analyses are based on a ten-week period of participant observation and experimental methodologies from the end of July 2004 till the end of October 2004. During the examined period, students participated in an experiment depicted by a weekly scenario. Data collection consisted of a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. These methods included criteria-based systematic weekly evaluations of scenarios assessed on a numerical scale completed by the teacher, self (i.e. student), insider and outsider peer groups. These multiple angles allowed the perspectives of all participants to be represented in the final analysis. Field notes taken by the teacher during scenario sessions generated an insider perspective and an in-depth understanding of students' speaking behaviour. A questionnaire and an interview were also conducted at the end of the study by each of the participants and provided a wealth of additional data. An important finding was that during the examined period, students who were initially reluctant to speak, gradually showed readiness and willingness to present orally. For a while, the classroom created a legitimate context for second language use, and for students a need and reason to communicate. Thus for all of them, it was a snapshot of a long lived dream that was finally coming true.