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Item Dialogic activity : a study of learning dialogues and entanglements in a vocational tertiary setting : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Education at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2022) Simpson, Ann MiddlebrookNew Zealand’s economic growth continues to place major pressure on the trades sector. To meet future demand for qualified builders, plumbers, electricians, and engineers, trades education has become available at no cost to students for two years. To attract student interest further, tertiary institutions now offer courses in a range of delivery options. Blended learning (BL) is one of these delivery modes and involves a combination of traditional face-to-face and digitally mediated approaches. This research explored students’ dialogic activity in a BL environment, within a trades educational institution. The dialogues that emerged during trades training courses were examined in relation to a complex assemblage of elements, which included interactions between students and teachers, and the digital and materials artefacts in the BL environments. The research used an interdisciplinary lens, employing theories of socio-materialism and dialogism, to unpack forms of dialogic activity that emerged within the BL environment. That same lens was used to reveal the part that material and digital artefacts played in the emergent dialogic activity. Conducted as a multiple case study, the research involved observations of instructors and student participants from three Level 3 pre-apprentice trade programmes, which provided a wide range of data over the course of one semester. Datasets from Automotive Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, as the three cases involved, were analysed to explore the contextual meaning of the learning dialogues and activities in action. The findings revealed that learning dialogues occur in multiple contexts and environments. Artefacts and their properties, BL designs, open and flexible learning spaces, environmental conditions, health and safety considerations, embodiment, multiplicity, mediation, and class culture, all have a significant influence on dialogic activity. The findings offer important insights about the link between course design and learning and identify dialogic activity as an interdisciplinary phenomenon that warrants further investigation.Item An investigation of the problems of identifying and analysing affective interaction in an open plan classroom : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masterate of Arts in Education at Massey University(Massey University, 1974) Thomson, RussellThe investigation was part of a wider research into an Open Plan infant complex. Of central concern to this thesis was "The Problem of defining, locating and analysing 'Affect' in the Open Plan". Six randomly selected subjects were tape recorded on six randomly selected mornings for approximately three hours each. The tapes and subsequent transcripts provided the data for the study, The affect was deemed to be located in the wider context of the general interaction of the social milieu under analysis. This wider dimension of total environmental interaction was specified according to (a) the participants (b) the task they engaged in; and 16 categories were defined. Affective behaviour was finally analysed on the basis of approving and disapproving actions of teachers. This analysis studied affect according to (a) direction of affect i.e. positive or negative, approving or disapproving and (b) method of communication of affect i.e. verbal, non-verbal, neutral or combinations of these. The methodology was not fully conceptualized at the beginning but evolved from the literature and from experimentation, as the problem developed. When an accepted methodology was formulated the trends that the analysis would probably indicate were presented as "General Tendencies". The general interaction segments were identified, timed and numbered in terms of the defined categories. The affective incidents were located as units of affect within a defined sequence of general interaction. Results confirmed previously stated beliefs that some classrooms are basically stable social environments in that there was little variation in the patterns of general interaction. The proportion of time allocated to (a) participants (b) tasks was basically the same over the six days analysed. The most prevalent behaviours located were those associated with Task Instructional, with the difference between Task Organisation, Task Experiential and Non-Task being insignificant. The role of the teacher was central in this study. More approval than disapproval was identified with minimal variation in the tapes as to the affect dispensed. The research directed attention at the importance of non-verbal cues in an analysis of the social dynamics of the classroom. Teaching, as an increasingly interactive phenomenon will need to recognize the significance of non-verbal communication and this implies a necessary emphasis that should be given to education courses to ensure a full understanding of classroom interaction.Item Dialogue and monologue : the relationship between student nurse and nurse clinician : the impact on student learning : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Nursing at Massey University(Massey University, 2004) Vallant, Sharon RoseStudent nurse learning that occurs in the clinical setting is an important aspect of the comprehensive nursing curriculum in New Zealand. While nurse lecturers have responsibility for student learning in clinical settings, it is the nurse clinicians that students rely on for the day-to-day facilitation of their learning. The purpose of this descriptive interpretive study was to explore the relationship between student nurse and nurse clinician in the clinical setting. The researcher was interested in student nurse perceptions of their relationships with nurse clinicians and whether the relationship impacted on student learning. A cohort of 11 student nurses at the end of their three years of study participated in focus group interviews. Data gathered from the three focus groups were analysed using an inductive approach. Three themes emerged from data analysis and are represented using Buber's (2002) theory of relationships as a theoretical framework. The themes arc 'A Monologue', 'A Technical Dialogue' and 'A Genuine Dialogue'. A story of student nurses relationships with nurse clinicians has been created, using the participants' words, in the form of journal entries. These entries provide insight into the nature of the relationship between the student nurse and nurse clinician. The relationships between student nurses and nurse clinicians are not always positive. However when both students and nurse clinicians actively participate in the relationship and student nurses feel their learning is promoted and supported, student learning is enhanced. Student nurses attitudes to learning and to remaining in the profession of nursing are influenced by the relationships they have with nurse clinicians. Therefore the relationships between the two impact on important issues for the profession of nursing. This study highlights the important links between a positive learning environment for student nurses during their clinical learning experiences, and the recruitment and retention of newly registered nurses in the clinical environment.Item Interaction with text : a study of teachers' mediation of materials in mainstream and ESOL secondary school classrooms : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Second Language Teaching at Massey University(Massey University, 2001) Davey, Sarah ElizabethThe increasingly multi-cultural nature of New Zealand society is accompanied by burgeoning school enrolments of students whose first language is not English (called ESOL students in this study). Immigration, refugee movements, and the recruitment of international students for largely economic purposes, all contribute to this. Whilst many of these students are competent English speakers when they enrol at our schools, large numbers are not. In secondary schools, regardless of English language competence, most ESOL students are placed in mainstream classes for the majority of their timetable, with the addition of a relatively small amount of specialist English language tuition. How do both these mainstream and ESOL teachers address the language learning needs of these students? Because texts remain central to classroom teaching and learning, this study considers how teachers mediate texts with students. It has a particular focus on how this mediation contributes to the language learning environment for ESOL students in both mainstream and ESOL classes, using classroom observation as its primary source of data. This study reveals both predictable and unexpected results. It is not surprising that it finds extensive use of questioning by teachers in their mediation of texts. However, the value of copious recall or display questions for senior secondary school students is challenged by this study, and the importance is asserted of referential questioning to develop critical thinking skills in relation to text. The preponderance of teacher-dominated classrooms and classroom language is a disappointing finding of this study, especially because the study reveals that students say very little in such an environment. More collaborative and interactive teaching methods would help ESOL students use, and therefore learn, English more effectively. Thus the study finds a lot of class time invested in the use of texts, but comparatively little effective mediation to help both native-speaking and ESOL students comprehend the language of the texts. The study reveals the need for teachers to acknowledge their role as teachers of language, and especially to mediate texts with students by teaching reading strategies.Item Formative assessment and re-action : a theory-seeking case study crossing the bridge from theory to practice and back again : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University(Massey University, 2002) Vickerman, Martin PaulFormative assessment is increasingly being recognised for its potential to enhance learning. Studies from the United Kingdom and New Zealand have revealed that frequently classroom teachers are engaged in formative assessment practices without being aware of it, or are inefficient users of formative assessment information. This research used a theory-seeking case study approach in an attempt to establish how formative assessment was being used in three senior primary school teachers' classrooms. Through semi-structured interviews and in-depth classroom observations, five emergent themes were recognised. One of these themes, that formative assessment is on-going and a cyclical process, led to the development of a model of formative assessment in action. Key features of the model include the use of assessment information/indicators to decide appropriate actions, or more frequently re...actions, to create further learning opportunities. Appraisal and verification of the model by participants and other teachers from both the research school and others in the area, suggest that it is an accurate representation of how teachers do assess children for the purpose of enhancing their learning.