Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemUneasy lies the head : the repositioning of heads of English in independent schools in Victoria in the age of new learning technologies( 2004)This study explores the discursive practice of six Heads of English in Independent Schools in Victoria during a period of major cultural change. This change has been associated with huge public investment in New Learning Technologies and shifting perceptions and expectations of cultural agency in communities of practice such as English Departments in Schools. In this social milieu tensions exist between the societal rhetoric of school management and marketing of the efficacy of NLTs as educational realities and discursive practices at a departmental level, embodying and embedding academic values and attainments. In their conversations with the author, the Heads of English reveal much about themselves and the nature and distribution of their duties and responsibilities within the local moral order of their schools and with their individual communities of practice. A model is developed of the dual praxis of the Heads of the Heads of English, mediated by autobiography and historically available cultural resources in a community of practice. As agents concerned to both maintain and transform their local culture of English teaching, and consequently the whole school culture, the Heads of English account for themselves as responding to their own `sense of place' in their own community of practice, but also the `structure of feeling' of the period by which their achievements and standing are known. This study of the persons of the English co-ordinators draws upon both Positioning Theory and critical realism to reveal the dynamic nature of both their identity and the social organization of English teaching in schools.
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ItemExploring an appropriation of reader-response theory for teaching and learning English literature in Vietnam( 2016)While learner-centred approaches to literature in second/foreign language education have enjoyed wide empirical support, the teaching of English literature in Vietnam still focuses on transmitting an objectified interpretation of a text. This study explores the potential of appropriating reader-response theory (Rosenblatt, 1994), which locates the meaning of a literary text through the reader-text connection, with the following question: In what ways can reader-response theory make a contribution to the teaching and learning of English literature at the undergraduate level in Vietnam? This research was conducted through the implementation of an innovative teaching intervention based on reader-response theory. The teaching intervention appropriated reader-response theory to nurture students’ own experiences of and responses to English literature through interactive activities. This intervention was designed to work within an institutional syllabus at a university in Vietnam. The study used action research, in which the researcher participated as the teacher implementing the teaching intervention. Action research complements reader-response theory as both attend to interactive meaning making in context. Data were collected from 48 English-major students through pre-course and post-course questionnaires, class recordings, a teaching journal, after-class evaluations, online communications and reading logs. The data were analysed using three perspectives: those of the teacher and student participants, and a real-time view of class conversations and artefacts. This research found that appropriating reader-response theory in this context involved creating a transition from teacher-centred to student-centred learning, where dialogic teaching and interactive activities were used to evoke students’ own responses to the text. This transition required the teacher to adopt a dynamic role taking students’ learning styles into account. Through this approach, the students became dialogic and critical in developing their own responses to the texts they studied. However, they showed some contradictory attitudes to the unconventionality of the reader-response approach, which asked for and helped develop the students’ own responses to literature rather than giving them final answers. The mixed reaction indicated the complexity of creating a new learning paradigm in a traditional context. The students seemed to negotiate this complexity and become more critical about their own learning as a result. An important implication of this study is that it illustrates the potential of reader-response theory to contribute to teaching programs that seek to enable learners to experience literature in a second/foreign language individually and interactively. Based on the research findings, a model for appropriating reader-response theory is proposed that coalesces and balances active individual reading, collaborative exploration of responses, and language and literary scaffolding. In authority-abiding, exam-oriented institutional contexts such as in Vietnam, appropriating reader-response theory also requires mindfulness of a potential tension between the old and new practice, especially with regard to assessment issues.
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ItemLiterature and English teaching : a study of literature in the teaching of English at Scotch College, Melbourne( 1991)The first chapter of this thesis provides a personal memoir of my teaching career, and places it in the wider historical context of developments within English teaching in England and Australia. It establishes my own position at the key points of these developments in 1966, 1975, 1980 and 1985 and introduces the main area of interest - the place of literature in the teaching of English. The second chapter concerns the vast amount of writing on the nature and teaching of literature in English. It provides an historical review of the main body of this writing and derives some of its focus from the seminal work of John Dixon in 1966, as well as the Bullock Report of 1975. The vigorous yet sometimes slightly artificial debate on the issue of literature teaching is also examined in the review of the important journal, The Use of English. Chapter Three develops the ideas propounded in some of the writings examined in the previous chapter and provides an analysis of my own experience at Melbourne Grammar School. Chapter Four shows the similarities and differences existing between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School and details a more critical view of the state of English teaching from 1980 - 1990 at Scotch College. It reviews some of the specific examples of literature teaching and shows the slow progress which has been experienced over a decade within the College. The final chapter brings together the case of Scotch College and reviews possible future progress in the light of perceived difficulties inherent in the structure of the College. The general outlook for English at the College is seen in positive terms and suggestions are provided for further research into both the reading habits of students and the processes involved in the teaching of literature within the current restraints.
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ItemLaptops and literature : a constructivist approach to teaching English through multimedia( 1999)Staff in the English faculty at Central College are part of a laptop program, but are reluctant to make use of the laptops for anything except word processing. In this thesis I propose that staff need models for using laptop computers in a Secondary English classroom. Using an Action Research (Kemmis and McTaggert 1982) approach, the author researched learning styles, multimedia and subject English to develop a model for use in a novel-based classroom. The first model was developed, created and used in class. Student reactions were collected and analysed, and a second model created in response to this data. Students' reactions were collected and the models, along with student responses were presented to staff. Conclusions and recommendations drawn from this project were two-fold: that multimedia resources for student laptops are best designed and created by classroom teachers; and that the development of these resources are time intensive, so schools should support staff in the development of these resources with time and training.
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ItemEducation and the imagination: the theory and practice of children's imaginative reading in the middle post-primary years( 1988)This study examines the teaching of imaginative literature in Australian post-primary schools. Commencing in a review of the historical background and contemporary justifications for novel study in the classroom, it then seeks to describe the orthodox prescriptions for practical work. Those principles which attract widespread agreement are noted, as well as those which are either ambiguous or in dispute. With this review of the theory as a foundation, the actual practice of reading in schools is then investigated. The field research consists of a random sample of two hundred and twenty-two Year 9 students and twelve teachers from six Ballarat schools, tested by questionnaire and selective follow up interviews. The results of both are used to provide a picture of the extent to which the theoretical principles correlate to the day to day reality of classroom work. The conclusion acknowledges the largely positive impressions emerging from this limited sample, but notes the dearth of research in this area, and the pressing need for further study on a large scale.
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ItemThe public examination of English in Victoria : a study of one external influence on the secondary school English curriculum( 1980)The secondary school English curriculum was determined by groups outside schools during the period 1944-1974. External domination of teaching content and methodology was ensured by a system of Public and Matriculation Examinations which empowered agents of the universities to prescribe courses and to assess students' performance in those courses. The University of Melbourne exercised these functions through its Professorial Board and the Schools Board before relinquishing its powers to the Victorian Universities and Schools Examination Board in 1965. Statute and tradition allowed these bodies to establish themselves as a centre apart from schools, and to legitimise their authority through the institutionalised processes of prescription, examination and review of performance. The effect of these processes was to subordinate schools, teachers and pupils. There was immense inertia in the Victorian system of external prescription and examination. Courses and examination papers remained essentially unmodified for long periods. Significant development in the conception and content of English courses occurred, effectively, only at Year 12 in response to social and educational pressures which had previously led to the withdrawal of Public Intermediate and Leaving Examinations. Broadening the goals of H.S.C. English did not, however, signal diminished control over curriculum from the centre. The fact of competitive examinations at the end of secondary schooling continued to shape content and methodology in the earlier years. Competitive examinations engendered in schools, teachers and pupils a narrow conformity, the results of which can most clearly be seen in the failure of the Class A system to produce school-based curriculum initiatives of any substance. The effect of external prescription and examination of English courses was profound. Relationships between teachers and pupils were strongly mediated by the system, reducing the autonomy of both by subjugating their intentions to the instrumental demands of evaluation. So much of a student's 'life chance' depended upon examination success that teachers and taught were continually constrained to focus their attention on the tasks expected in examinations. Fragmentation, in line with the different sections of examination papers, rather than integration became, therefore, the organising principle for teaching aimed at developing those techniques believed to be essential for success in the examination game. External examinations dictated that the English classroom was a place where pupils met to prepare for their encounters with examinations rather than to explore the nature and richness of experience through literature and their own use of language for real ends. The system of Public and Matriculation Examinations established in 1944 was a potent influence on the secondary school English curriculum. The system rested upon a powerful, conservative centre whose legitimacy was so thoroughly entrenched that it was able to admit reform only on its own terms. Thus, it was possible after twenty-five years of relative stasis to negotiate evolution in the details of the school English curriculum without alteration to the essential power relationships. After thirty years, English teachers were still without autonomy. Year 12 English courses continued to exert the pressures and to exact the dependence which had constrained mother tongue studies throughout secondary schools since 1944.
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ItemImplementing the CSF-English in a whole language classroom( 1998)A new curriculum structure called the Curriculum and Standards Framework (CSF) was introduced to Victorian primary and secondary schools in 1995. The CSF-English comprises four strands, two of which (Contextual understanding and Linguistic structures and features), represent what could be seen as new information to Whole Language trained teachers. This thesis addresses the CSF-English in two ways. First, it deconstructs the CSF-English. Second, it will attempt to trace its implementation in a case study. In order to lay the basis for a historically located, theoretically informed deconstruction of the CSF-English, the researcher conducted a close reading of the document, informed by a reading of the literature on the history of English curriculum. The conclusion is that the CSF-English, while being theoretically inclusive, is unsynthesised, eclectic and confusing. This thesis examines how two grade 5/6 self described Whole Language primary school teachers went about implementing the CSF-English, a document to which they had limited theoretical access. This thesis focuses on the types of texts and the types of knowledge about texts which were presented in the classroom. Using ethnographic methodology both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to create a rich and detailed portrait of all occurrences of the teaching of reading and writing. The data showed that a narrow and unbalanced range of text types was presented. While fictional and personal texts occurred with high frequency, factual texts occurred very infrequently. The data also showed that literal and personalised knowledge about texts was frequently taught, whereas the overall structures of texts and the situational and socio-cultural context was rarely taught. The central conclusions reached were first that the teachers implemented only those aspects of CSF-English which concurred with their Whole Language philosophy. The Whole Language model of English did not provide a means for these teachers to implement the CSF-English as a whole. Second, those aspects of the CSF-English which drew most heavily on Critical Social Literacy were taught infrequently. Third, it was concluded that the students of these Whole Language teachers were not being fully prepared for the demands of secondary school literacy. In particular, they were not being familiarised with the types of texts that matter in the secondary school, nor were they being inducted into critical and analytical thinking about texts.
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ItemEngagement and autonomy: their relationship and impact on reading comprehension for junior-secondary English literature students( 2012)A qualitative, inductive design explored the effects of two differing approaches to teaching comprehension of narrative texts on students’ task engagement and text enjoyment, and comprehension. Using one junior-secondary, mixed ability English class in a suburb of Melbourne (Victoria) the study compared and contrasted an approach allowing considerable student autonomy with one that is teacher-directed. It considered for which students, and under what circumstances, one might be more constructive. A grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006) was used to derive analytic theories from the particular situational and social context. The results demonstrate a complex relationship between engagement and comprehension. They highlight that academically weaker students can be more engaged by increased autonomy, and academically more able students can be disengaged by greater autonomy and prefer the more ‘predictable-to-them’, authoritative approach to instruction. Furthermore, the students’ views of knowledge and their corresponding efficacy beliefs can contribute to the extent of their engagement and ensuing achievement. It is proposed that teachers consider, more explicitly, students’ attitudes toward instruction. Additionally, by diversifying and allowing choice of both the activities to assist comprehension and the ways comprehension is assessed, teachers may be better able to facilitate students’ potential.
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ItemA comparative analysis: 'English' in the Newbolt report (1921) and in the Bullock report (1974)( 1983)This thesis argues the legitimacy and usefulness, within the field of Comparative Education, of studies which focus on the comparative description and analysis of a complex concept or subject-model, as established in two Reports, separated widely in time. What is contrasted and analysed is the substantive definition of 'English' emerging from the Reports of Committees of Inquiry, appointed by the Ministers responsible for Education in England in 1919 and 1972, and chaired respectively by Sir Henry Newbolt and Sir Alan Bullock. The opening chapter demonstrates, in identifying the location of such studies within Comparative Education, that the comparison of documentary sources is a study valid, both at a theoretical and a descriptive level, in contemporary studies in this field. In particular it argues, that especially as comparisons of this type focus on 'change' and 'reform' within the educational curriculum, such studies are fruitful and illuminating in a heuristic sense, and capable of generating explanatory views of how the curriculum of a particular subject comes to be what it is. Chapter 2 provides an analysis, useful for comparative purposes, of the membership and identity of each Committee of Inquiry. In turn, this analysis is used to illuminate the nature and content of each Report, and in particular to provide a framework appropriate for evaluating the extent to which each definition or model of 'English' was a reflection of the lives and times of the particular individuals appointed to each Committee. Although, in total, more than forty persons composed the Newbolt and Bullock Committees, and although the amount of detailed biographical information available varies greatly from person to person, it emerges that there were clearly identifiable groups, representing or even, in a sense, incarnating - particular interests, which pushed the findings and recommendations of the Inquiries in particular directions. Clues are also thus provided about each Committee's motives for and emphases in prescribing the nature, purpose, and content of 'English' in the ways it did. After establishing this background and context, in terms useful for comparative analysis, the concept or model of 'English' as each Committee understood it within the generic categories of 'Language' and 'Literature', is examined. The nature, place, and role of each of the constituent parts of 'English' are compared and contrasted, and within the framework of this comparative approach, key elements in each constituent part are scrutinised, assessed and related to the 'identity' of the Committees which produced them. This process of comparative analysis clearly demonstrates that each Committee was, for its time and place, fulfilling a highly significant role related to educational change and reform, as well as to the definition of 'English' in England in 1921 and 1974. Insights thus emerge which are useful in producing an understanding of the processes of curriculum definition and development. This thesis indicates the extent to which, in England both in 1921 and 1974, the formulation of the aims of 'English' and of its content and teaching, reflected and emerged from 'interests' collaborated in Committees set up by the Government of the day to carry out processes of review and reform. In so doing, it confirms the legitimacy, as well as heuristic value, of studies of this type within the field of Comparative Education.