Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemSpoken, signed and written language of three deaf children engaged in a signed English program( 1992)Against a background which proposes significant change in the education of deaf students, it is significant that the Australasian Signed English system has had little investigation, either in terms of teacher accuracy in using Signed English, or in studies to examine the development of English competency among the students engaged in such programs. This study has sought to investigate the development of English structures in a group of children whose education is taking place through the medium of Signed English combined with speech and audition. Language samples were collected as a matter of routine during the course of a school year from three children who commenced the year aged 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9 years. Activities which typically occur in classrooms over the course of a year were used rather than contexts which are not authentic and are unrelated to the normal communicative environment of the classroom. Three codes of English have been examined: spoken English, signed English and written English, and eleven aspects of English grammatical structure: negation, copula, possessives, plurals, pronouns, relativisation, conjunctions, third person singular, question forms, past tense and auxiliaries. The data from the three children indicate the presence of developing English structures. These may occur in the mature form, in a non-mature form, or as yet unmarked or marked inconsistently. There is also evidence of approximations which mirror the overgeneralisations to be found in young hearing learners of English. The data reveal differences between the three children and differences between the three modes, as well as the degree to which the children accurately use the three forms of English. The results of this study present a possible interpretation as to the English development which is occurring in many children engaged in Signed English programs. Further examination, particularly on a longitudinal basis, is recommended.
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ItemThe provision of English as a second language programs in Victorian Catholic primary schools, 1970-1988( 1989)This thesis examines the programs in English as a second language provided by the Catholic Education Office of Victoria to its primary schools between 1970 to 1988. The CEOV response to Government policies and funding for English as a second language programs for immigrant children is described and analysed. Data concerning these programs is analysed for ten selected Catholic primary schools, who submitted proposals in 1985, and for twenty selected Catholic primary schools who submitted proposals in 1988. The results show that despite good intentions and committed efforts, the teaching of English as a second language in Victorian Catholic primary schools remains a poor relation.
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ItemAn investigation into one experienced mainstream classroom teacher's implementation of the early years literacy program( 2004)Within the last decade in Australia, there has been an increased commitment to improving literacy standards with subsequent focus towards enhancing literacy education in the early years of schooling. This has led to the development of classroom-based literacy programs designed to meet the needs of all learners, including ESL learners. The Early Years Literacy Program (EYLP), a Victorian literacy initiative, was developed and is currently used by early years educators in all Victorian Government Primary Schools as a resource to plan for a strategic and comprehensive approach to early literacy achievement in the first five years of schooling (DET 2002). The study reported in this thesis investigates how one experienced mainstream classroom teacher, who does not have ESL training or receive ESL support, caters for the needs of a group of ESL learners within the Early Years writing program. An aim of this study is to build on the existing limited body of scholarship and identify areas of future research concerning the ways in which the writing component of the EYLP can be implemented to cater for the learning needs of primary ESL learners. As such, this research investigation is significant as it specifically examines the implementation of the writing component of the EYLP and explores the needs of Year One and Two primary ESL learners who entered school with limited English. This is in contrast to recent research that has focussed attention primarily on the reading component of the EYLP and young ESL learners in the early years of schooling. This investigation adopts a case study approach that allows for an in-depth exploration of one mainstream classroom teacher's implementation of the writing component of the EYLP and the detailed investigation of the needs of a group of ESL learners. As part of this study, the mainstream classroom teacher's teaching practice was observed during ten one-hour writing sessions. Other sources of data included a semi- structured interview, stimulated recall notes and samples of ESL students' written texts produced over a ten week data collection period. The findings of the study suggest that while the teacher was able to identify her ESL students areas of weakness in relation to writing, and whilst she recognised some of her students' needs, she often struggled to cater fully and effectively for her ESL students' learning requirements within the daily one hour writing program of the EYLP.