Research Students' Annual Conference (RSAC) 2010 - School of ...

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Room1 / Great Woodhouse Room 3 / Beech Grove Room2 / St. George School of Education Research Students’ Annual Conference (RSAC) 2010 24 November, University House, University of Leeds Name Email Title 11.40 – 12.05 Parallel sessions 2 Jeff Potter jeff.potter@leedscitycollege.ac.uk Vocational education and training for the childcare profession The research will investigate changes to childcare qualifications (at Level 3 – post 16) using interviews and questionnaires with FE practitioners, childcare and education providers, Higher education staff and representatives from awarding bodies and government departments. The changes to childcare qualifications started with the Children‘s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) designing a new Level 3 qualification to replace all existing college and work based routes. The study aims to use Leeds City College as a base for exploring opinion amongst the further education staff and managers delivering the existing childcare qualifications. The study is exploratory in nature, using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data to highlight what the changes will mean, how they will affect those involved and why the changes have happened. Name Email Title 11.40 – 12.05 Parallel sessions 3 Suad Al Fori widdyff@yahoo.com A dot in a whole circle! The study looks at how parental partnership is perceived and promoted by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Oman to help pupils, specifically those with Specific Learning Difficulties. It employs qualitative research methods to investigate policies, structures and practices of parental partnership in Oman. To achieve the research aims and answer the research questions the research is carried out in multi-levels with different groups being targeted and various methods being used to collect data. Preliminary results show that there are some good promising practices and efforts to promote parental partnership in Oman; and there is still a lot to be done. A great deal of work on parental partnership seem to be based on individual efforts of some personnel in schools, the regional directorate and the Ministry, and thus it lacks consistency, because, when it comes to parental partnership, there seems to be little dialogue between them. The professionalism model of partnership, emphasizing the dominance of the teacher, seems to be prevalent, which could have resulted in the passive role of many parents‘ in their children‘s learning. The preliminary results are discussed in terms of policies, funding and accountability and private tuition with respect to parental involvement. Name Email Title 12.10 – 12.35 Parallel sessions 1 Paul Colewood ed08pcc@leeds.ac.uk Methodological considerations in interviewing children of primary school age In recent years there have been significant developments in the methodological techniques used for consulting with children in social science research, with a wide range of studies in a variety of fields concerned with listening to the voices of children. This can be seen to be part of a broader change in conception which, instead of regarding children as peripheral figures to be ―seen and not heard‖, attaches central importance to the perspectives, actions and attitudes of children. In this presentation I shall focus on the methodological issues which require special attention when interviewing children of primary school age. This will include a consideration of the extent to which research with children is potentially different to research with adults, together with an overview of some of the key aspects which need to be addressed when interviewing children of this age. As well as considering relevant literature and research, the presentation will draw on the findings of my own pilot study. 8
Room 3 / Beech Grove Room2 / St. George School of Education Research Students’ Annual Conference (RSAC) 2010 24 November, University House, University of Leeds Name Email Title 12.10 – 12.35 Parallel sessions 2 Paula Rebolledo prebolledoc@gmail.com Exploring action research on a professional development course in Chile The different models of action research found in the literature pose a difficulty when it comes to provide a clear-cut definition of what it is, promotes and how it is done. Despite such variety action research has become part of teachers‘ education programmes for several years as it is claimed it promotes teachers‘ professional development, critical reflection as well as emancipation and curriculum development. In this light, educational innovations in Chile have also called for training about action research in in-service courses for English teachers in the country. This research explores the model of action research which underpins these in-service courses according to course designers, teacher trainers and course participants (ELT teachers), the topic areas they researched, the challenges they faced and to what extent action research has contributed to their professional development during and after the course has ended. Name Email Title 12.10 – 12.35 Parallel sessions 3 Wan Wan ww510@york.ac.uk Using metaphorical conceptualisation to construct and develop EFL students’ writing: an exploratory study Building on the hypothesis that metaphor awareness in a context-sensitive intervention can lead to changes in behaviour, and particularly to improvement in L2 academic writing knowledge and skills (Villamil & de Guerrero, 2005; Hart, 2009), this longitudinal study aims to generate knowledge about EFL university students‘ on-going understanding of academic writing beliefs via an analysis of the metaphors and similes they create and employ in a set of decontextualised ―complete a metaphor/simile‖ tasks. Metaphor is treated as a symbolic mediating tool, facilitating participants‘ mental engagement and learning (of writing) (Lakoff& Johnson, 1980; Lantolf, 2006) and helping participants identify their beliefs (about academic writing). The study followed a group of seven L2 MA students in the context of a 9-session writing seminar for a period of an academic year (2009/10). Data sources included observations of classrooms, interviews, and required writing tasks. Data gathered from these sources also involved student-generated metaphors about writing. The results showed that metaphorical conceptualization on students‘ beliefs of writing resulted in a variety of realizations that improved students‘ ability to construct and reflect on the processes and products of academic writing and ultimately help them identify their writing difficulty and/or problems. References: Hart, G. (2009). Composing metaphors: metaphors for writing in the composition classroom. Unpublished PhD thesis. Department of English, Ohio University. Lakoff, G., & Johnson; M (1980). Metaphors we live-by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Lantolf, J. P. (2006). Conceptual knowledge and instructed second language learning: A sociocultural perspective. In. S. Fotos& H. Nassaji (Eds.). Form focused instruction and teacher education: studies in honour of Rod Ellis. (pp. 35-54). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Villamil, O. S., & M. C. de Guerrero. (2005). Constructing theoretical notions of L2 writing through metaphor conceptualization. In N. Bartels (Ed.), Applied linguistics in language teacher education (pp. 79-90). NY: Springer. 9
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