Faculty of Education - Theses

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End date: 2014 × Start date: 2014 × Subject: children ×

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    Supporting children's oral language through play and teacher questioning
    O'Grady, Kim ( 2014)
    Through practitioner research, this small-scale study sought to examine the inclusion of play-based experiences and subsequent teacher-led reflective discussions within an early years language and literacy program to support children’s oral language development. Comparisons were made between children’s ‘language in action’ during play and ‘language as reflection’ during the teacher-facilitated discussions. The study also examined the use of teacher questions in terms of their capacity to scaffold children’s language during small-group discussions. Based upon principles of qualitative research, six children in their first year of school were selected to participate in the study, with the intent of being able to provide a rich qualitative data set and deliver findings specific to the research site. The participants’ talk interactions during the play episodes and reflective discussions, form the data collected for this study. The data collection process was cyclical, with three cycles taking place during the second semester of the school year. Due to the nature of the research design, data was collected, interpreted and reported on by the teacher-researcher. Three key themes emerged from the data analysis. Firstly, the role of imaginative play and the affordances this makes for children’s language learning, secondly, the challenges of ‘context reduced’ language for the school-aged language learner, and finally the importance of teacher questioning in scaffolding children’s language. The findings from the study urge teachers to consider the role of play in facilitating children’s ‘language in action’ and the importance of effective teacher questioning during children’s use of ‘language as reflection’ to augment children’s oral language development during the first year of school.
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    Portrait of the artist who works with children
    BROWN, ROBERT ( 2014)
    In both school and non-school based studies, the significant role of artists is often cited but rarely researched in any depth, except for a few notable exceptions (Brice-Heath and Wolf, 2005; Galton, 2008; Rabkin, Reynolds, Hedberg, & Shelby, 2011; Pringle, 2002; Selkrig, 2011; Waldorf, 2002). Despite the view that artists are a rich resource for the community (Mulligan & Smith, 2009), and the claim that there is much to learn from these professionals in relation to their work with children (Galton, 2008; Pringle, 2002; Waldorf, 2002), there are no known interpretive frameworks that provide artists, and the organizations that employ them, with a guide to reflect deeply and critically on their practice involving children in non-school contexts. This research maps the backgrounds, goals and practices of over fifty artists working in a public arts facility, ArtPlay. Located in the heart of Melbourne, ArtPlay provides a wide range of artist-led programs for children aged from three-to-thirteen years. Involving a blend of discovery and constructivist methodologies, aligned with ethnography and case study, this research sought understanding through immersion and dialogue, informed by a hermeneutic model of inquiry (Hammersley, 2011). The key questions for the study were, Why do artists work with children? How do artists work with children? and How does context influence why, and how, artists work with children? To answer these questions, data, gathered through interviews, observations and surveys was analysed through a process of ‘progressive focusing’ (Stake, 2000). Highlighted in this research are the complex factors that influence the artist’s goals and practices, including child age, other adult support, length of program, and the environment. The multi-faceted and contextualised portrait constructed indicates that artists aim to promote child confidence, creativity, aesthetic awareness and joy, through practices that give emphasis to personalized and informal connections, modeling, co-construction, and creative inquiry.