Digitized Theses and Dissertations

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Perceptions of reading: kindergarten children and their teachers
(1999) Swan, Sandra J.; Mayfield, Margie
Though researchers have been attempting to solve the mystery of beginning to read, few studies have explored early literacy and reading from the perspective of the child. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of kindergarten children and kindergarten teachers about reading. It was a partial replication of a study of grade one children by Dr. P. Michels (1988, 1994). Participant interviews with 20 kindergarten children and five kindergarten teachers were the basis for data collection. Kindergarten teachers were interviewed in order to examine how children's perceptions of learning to read fit together with instructional strategies. The research clearly indicated that children understood the process of learning to read. When asked how they would define reading, they ref erred to the process by making a direct reference to learning phonics and sounding out words. These insights into reading clearly paralleled the teachers' instructional practices. The teachers defined reading primarily as a decoding process. The study provided evidence that kindergarten children did indeed understand the status of membership in various reading groups. The importance of parental and family involvement in the process of early literacy development surf aced throughout the study. It is evident from this study that further research on children's attitudes and perceptions of beginning to read is needed. Such investigation may include an examination of the relationship between teachers' instructional practices and students' perceptions, long term longitudinal studies, and additional exploration of children's perceptions of reading.
The concept of suffering in human rights discourse: a response to Richard Rorty's "Human rights, rationality and sentimentality"
(2002) Sutherland, Elizabeth Jane; Magnusson, Warren
This thesis is a response to Richard Rorty's essay entitled, "Human Rights, Rationality, and Sentimentality," in which Rorty suggests that existing approaches to human rights concerns should be discarded in favour of an approach he calls 'sentimental education,' through which people learn about the particularities of others' lives - and particularly their suffering - in order to foster more enriched cross-cultural understanding and action to end violence and oppression. My method entails an analysis of Richard Rorty's writings, theoretical writings on human rights and suffering, and critical analyses of Rorty's writings. I explore the implications of attempting to use the concept of suffering as a foundation for a new approach to human rights problems. I argue that, although Rorty avoids some problems inherent in universalist approaches to human rights and some pitfalls inherent in constructivist discourses, his proposal does not provide a satisfying resolution to the central debates in human rights discourse.
Making sense of photographs in science textbooks and lectures
(2003) Pozzer-Ardenghi, Lilian; Roth, Wolff-Michael
Photographs constitute a major aspect of high school biology textbooks, which dominate current classroom approaches to teaching and learning. However, little is known about how students make sense of and learn from photographs; even less is known about the different resources available for making sense of photographs both in textbooks and in lecture situations. Constituted of three interrelated studies, this thesis is concerned with the use of photographs as pedagogical resources to teach scientific concepts. In the first study I investigate the semiotic resources for interpreting photographs that high school biology textbooks make available to their readers. In the second study, I analyze gestures and body position as semiotic resources made available by lecturers who used photographs as part of their presentations. In my third study [ investigate how students make sense of photographs associated with written texts. The results of my study have implications for textbooks' authors and readers, and for teachers and lecturers.
Speeded discrimination training, fluency and generalization in the laboratory: training fluency and promoting generalization using choice reaction time
(2000) Peters, Chris Deborah; Goldwater, Bram
The primary objectives of the present study were to assess the degree to which generalization would occur to novel, untrained stimulus discriminations following fluency training on a variety of choice reaction time (CRT) tasks. A choice reaction time paradigm and a program called "Speeded Discrimination Training" (SDT), which utilized a computer screen and a two-key response box, were used to deliver the probe and training stimuli to the four female participants who were given alternating probe and training sessions in this study. All participants were trained on various decks in tasks comprising homonym phrases, letter pairs, synonym and antonyms pairs, and sentences for which they received per cent correct and rate correct per minute (RCPM) feedback, upon which goals and monetary reinforcement were set and distributed. This study differs from previous work in the author's laboratory as the tasks and exemplars employed in the present study were more difficult, variable and diverse. The tasks were more difficult in that they required the participants to make grammatical discriminations among the stimuli being presented rather than simply discriminating among highly familiar word categories, letters, or numbers as in studies carried out by Kristofferson (1977) and Pashler and Baylis (1991). Evidence for generalization from trained decks to novel, untrained decks within tasks, as well as from trained tasks to untrained tasks, was revealed upon examination of the various figures produced from the participants' probe and training data. Generalization was demonstrated by participants starting at higher levels on successive training decks, for a particular task, than the decks in previous training sessions; participants requiring less time for successive training decks within and across tasks to reach, or exceed, previous RCPM levels; and participants showing improvement trends across the novel decks in successive probe sessions, as well the tasks that had not yet been trained and only seen in previous probe sessions. Overall, fluency-based training appeared to be successful in promoting generalization within, and in some instances, across speeded discrimination tasks.
A little younger than fire: personal storytelling, drama, and learning
(1999) Nyman, Jennifer L.; Saxton, Juliana
This thesis is a story about story; a story which explores the relationship between personal storytelling and drama as instruments of learning. In providing a thorough, comprehensive analysis of this relationship, this researcher has sought to address the following questions: 1) What is personal storytelling, and how is it different from other forms of narrative? 2) What role does personal storytelling play in one's cognitive and emotional development? 3) How might the utilization of personal storytelling within the curriculum effect school learning? 4) How might personal storytelling be utilized to enhance learning in drama education? The answers to these question will be addressed within this thesis as I provide a detailed account of the current research which surrounds these issues and of the outcomes of my human subjects research project. The project, conducted during the Summer of 1998, serves to illuminate the reciprocal educative relationship maintained by personal storytelling and drama, how the two may work in tandem as effective pedagogic tools, both within school learning and drama education.
Boundaries on fire: hybridity and the political economy of culture
(2000) Krishnamurti, Sailaja Vatsala; Kamboureli, Smaro
Current debates about globalization have generated interest in hybridity, a term which refers to the identities, representations and productions of people who live between cultures that are perceived to be fixed geographically. The complex relationships between producers and consumers of hybrid commodities constitute the political economy of culture. This economy obscures the hidden hegemonies within globalization, and makes authenticity the exchange value of cross-cultural commodities and their producers. Control over the production of hybridity is manipulated by transnational culture industries, in order to defuse the hybrid's transgressive properties and reclaim hybridity as symbol of global homogenization. This thesis examines several hybrid cultural productions and producers, including Deepa Mehta's 1997 film Fire; Star Rise, a 1997 tribute album to the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; and musical groups Asian Dub Foundation and The Fire This Time. These examples illustrate the manipulation of hybridity within the political economy of culture.
Pacific partners: a comparison of Canadian and Japanese peacekeeping experiences, looking for avenues of cooperation
(2002) Kimura, Yuko; Roy, Patricia
Canada and Japan share similar circumstances and interests as America's allies, trading nations and middle powers in the Pacific region. However, they have widely different histories of peacekeeping involvement. Analyzing their experiences of UN Peacekeeping Operations (PKOs) from perspectives of history and political science allows us to understand the role they play in their respective foreign policies. The role of PKOs has evolved over the half·century history of the UN. The increasing complexity and number of armed conflicts in recent years has increased the personnel and financial burden on many UN members, including Canada. Japan faces a question of how far it can participate in PKOs under the Constitution. The rationale exists for Japan and Canada to share personnel and financial costs, knowledge and technology for peacekeeping as pacific partners. Understanding their different strengths abilities, advantages, and interests can help make co·operation more beneficial.
An exploration of literacy practices within culturally diverse families
(2000) Gower, Cynthia Louise; Mayfield, Margie
Family literacy is the reading, writing, drawing, and conversing that occurs incidentally and deliberately among all family members. This study explored the literacy practices of six families with a child between the ages of 1 and 4, from a country other than Canada. Emergent literacy (the first signs of abilities and knowledge with regard to written language) was the focus, as none of the children was attending school. A Cultural Interview (Cl), a questionnaire, was developed to determine each family's background, religious/spiritual beliefs, and the parents' level of education and employment. A journal was developed so that a parent could document her child's literacy practices. A Reading and Writing Inventory (RA WI), based on the work of Genisio (1998) was developed to determine the incidental/deliberate literacy practices of parents and child. A purposive sample of 6 participants (mothers) was selected from the Inter-Cultural Association (ICA). During a 30- to 50-minute interview family practices and culture were explored. The journal generated several recurrent themes: (a) morning ritual, (b) television, (c) playtime, (d) schedule of eating habits, (e) visiting friends, (f) learning, and (g) exercising and chores. The inventory provided examples of everyday literacy practices of both child and parent. The three instruments provided evidence that literacy is occurring in each home, both in English and the first language. The instruments provide a format that may be used by daycare workers, counsellors, and teachers, as they enable an exploration of a family's unique culture and daily literacy routines.
Who gets to go to school?: parental schooling choices among the Ariaal Rendille of northern Kenya
(2000) Giles, Joyce Lynn; Roth, Eric Abella
An enormous literature details the benefits of educating female children with respect to lowered fertility and infant/child mortality levels. Far less examined are patterns of parental decision-making with respect to selecting specific children for schooling. This thesis uses logistic regression methodology to delineate parental decision-making patterns concerning childhood education in the Ariaal Rendilie community of Karare, Marsabit District, northern Kenya. Results reveal clear, predictable parental strategies reflecting specific household characteristics and larger cultural traditions.
Attitudes of grade one children towards two approaches to reading instruction: basal reader and language experience
(1993) DeVuono, Nancy Ann Page; Olson, A.
This study describes the Provincial Reading Assessments 1977-1998, analyses the results of reading comprehension skills, and relates these results to background variables of gender, preferences of reading material and instructional practices. It addresses the context for gender differences in reading on both a national and international level. The thesis includes a historical overview of the Provincial Learning Assessment Program and a description of each Provincial Reading Assessment completed in the period 1977 to 1998. The results of the study indicate that at every grade level, on every assessment during the period 1977 to 1998, females outperform males on Provincial Reading Assessments in the area of reading comprehension. The difference with which they do so increases from grade 4 to grade 10 and this gap is widening over time. Differences were noted between genders regarding preferences in reading materials and reading habits and these variables are shown to effect reading comprehension achievement. The review of literature surveys the social and instructional context for reading and the gendered nature of reading materials.
Reading comprehension and gender in provincial reading assessments 1977-1998
(2001) de Boer, Jennifer Anne; Robertson, Margaret
This study describes the Provincial Reading Assessments 1977-1998, analyses the results of reading comprehension skills, and relates these results to background variables of gender, preferences of reading material and instructional practices. It addresses the context for gender differences in reading on both a national and international level. The thesis includes a historical overview of the Provincial Learning Assessment Program and a description of each Provincial Reading Assessment completed in the period 1977 to 1998. The results of the study indicate that at every grade level, on every assessment during the period 1977 to 1998, females outperform males on Provincial Reading Assessments in the area of reading comprehension. The difference with which they do so increases from grade 4 to grade 10 and this gap is widening over time. Differences were noted between genders regarding preferences in reading materials and reading habits and these variables are shown to effect reading comprehension achievement. The review of literature surveys the social and instructional context for reading and the gendered nature of reading materials.
Changing conceptions of virtue in western education
(1999) Daniel, Craig; Fleming, Thomas
This paper attempted to sample the meanings, understandings, appreciations, and conceptions of virtue during four distinct historical periods. The published educational record of educational thinkers and scholars from the Classical Greek and Roman period, the European Middle Ages and Renaissance, and the Modern era in North America were examined. Commentary on the world of educational practice was made only if it revealed some aspect of a particular conception of virtue; educational practice itself was not a focal point. 'Through a process of critical analysis of scholarly writings, monographs, theses, and periodical literature published in leading scholarly journals, the paper came to argue that visions of virtue found in educational theory were influenced by the larger social and philosophical conceptions of particular time periods. Narrow definitions of virtue were of little use in the examination of such a diverse and vast historical record. Thus, virtue in this study was broadly defined as those qualities of character which educational theorists and teachers hoped their students would acquire through habit, training, and the inclinations of their own natures.
Relational networks of women in Victoria and the issue of women abuse in intimate bonds
(1988) Wickson, Elise Jonina; Gallant, Mary J.
This study examines and compares the role of women's network structure in marriages. Particular emphasis is placed on relationships where the traumatic bond of wife abuse is present. Women in normal couple bonds are compared with those where abuse has occurred in order to describe the possible impact of the structure of the interpersonal networks of these women with regards to the factor of isolation. The data were based on results of a mailed questionnaire sent to a random sample of 112 married women over 18 years of age who resided in Greater Victoria in 1987. Results show that in fact abused women do have isolating structures in the way they interact with friends and family as well as the kind of communication involved in the bond with their husband. There is a tendency to sporadic bursts of conflict, more extreme and intense in abused women's couple-interaction than in non-abused women's bonds. Also, abused women's networks were focused on interaction with specific family members than were non-abused women's networks. The associations in the results gave a qualified support to the hypotheses. However, new indications of network structure to show long- term interaction patterns with friends, family and in the couples' interaction is needed in future research in order to broaden the comparison so that conditions prompting continuation of abusive behaviour may be more clearly specified and their actual effects determined.
The location of freedom: Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas and Michel Foucault
(1999) Vo-Quang, Edouard; Tully, James
In the thesis, I discuss Hannah Arendt's conception of freedom. More particularly, I discuss her restriction of freedom to the public realm, and argue, using some of Michel Foucault's analyses of power and freedom, that this very restriction is problematic. But just as Foucault's analyses render Arendt's categories problematic, so they point to ways in which her analysis of freedom may be enriched or revised. It is this revision that I undertake in the thesis. I argue, through a comparison of Arendt' s discussion of freedom with Jurgen Habermas's historical analysis of the public realm, that Arendt's categories can be read as temporal categories (instead of the somewhat standard interpretation of them as spatial categories), and that by so ' temporalizing' her categories, one ' liberates' Arendtian freedom from its restriction to the public realm.
Implementation of a resistance skills training program to improve grade-seven students reported self-efficacy to resist drugs
(1999) Trumper, Ronda Lea; Harvey, Brian
At the start of the l 990's, researchers took great joy in describing the decrease in adolescent drug use across North America (Adlaf & Smart, 1991; Johnson, O'Malley & Bachman, 1992). Some researchers even predicted that this trend would continue (Adlaf & Smart, 1991). However, studies across North America have shown this trend has not only come to an end, but has reversed (Adlaf, Ivis, Smart &Walsh, 1995; Johnson, O'Malley & Bachman, 1994). This increase in drug use by adolescents is cause for alarm. Currently, the misuse of alcohol and other drugs is the greatest cause of disability and death in adolescents and young adults. "Over half of all accidents in the 15-24 year age group are due to motor vehicle fatalities, of which 45% are related to alcohol abuse. For those under 21 years of age 51 % were alcohol related. Other drugs certainly play a role as well" (Comerci & MacDonald, 1990, p.77). This study looks at the results of a short-term prevention program that attempted to increase drug use refusal self-efficacy for smoking, alcohol and marijuana amongst grade-seven students. Seventy-three students from three grade-seven classrooms in the Greater Victoria Area participated in the study. The study included a pretest, an implementation of a prevention program based on Social Learning Theory constructs, an immediate post-test and a post-test at a 3 week follow up. The results do not show a significant increase in drug use refusal self-efficacy, but do raise questions about the different effects of participating in a drug use refusal skills training program for current drug users and non-users. The researcher discusses implications for future research and prevention programs.
Swimming in an endangered estuary: female social work professionals' response to work demands
(2002) Sommers, Charlette Dawn; Reitsma-Street, Marge
Corporate Globalization is calling into question the provision of governmental social safety nets. This pressure intensifies when government services are scrutinized through inquiries such as British Columbia's Gove Inquiry in 1995. This inquiry followed by a Social Services Ministry re-structure in 1996 created a particular work environment for field social workers who work with the provinces' most vulnerable citizens. Most of these workers are women. This research conducted in April 2000, sought to discover how six female mid aged social workers experienced and responded to pressures and expectations in this setting. Spradley' s (1979) ethnographic Developmental Research Sequence Method was used as a guide for conducting the research. Analytic steps of increasing complexity were used beginning with the break down of participants' language into functional components which were then categorized, comparing and contrasting to search for similarities, and differences, culminating with three themes. These three themes were: tough complex, devalued jobs; positions filled but with no one in them; and fear of the pointing finger of blame. The themes, themselves paradoxical, revealed an endangered work environment which resulted in "survival" social work. The unravelling net and consequent unsupportive and fearful work environment, warn that the well being of our most vulnerable citizens and those who work with them are increasingly at risk.
Secondary traumatic workplace stress risk factors and symptoms of depression in B.C. adult probation officers: clinical and organizational implications
(2003) Rebman, Sherri L. T.; Trace, Norah; Hett, Geoffrey
The aim of this investigation has been to examine the relationships among secondary traumatic stress workplace risk factors and symptoms of depression in probation officers. The results from over 167 adult probation officers who participated in The Road Back to Wellness: Stress, Burnout and Trauma in Corrections (Fisher, 2001), a 2-day live workshop coordinated through the Justice Institute of British Columbia was explored. The intentions of the statistical exploration were to aid in data interpretation and to discover whether these variables were explainable in terms of any underlying predictors. This study is part of the journey for exploring, identifying and explaining factors related to secondary traumatic stress and depression. It is ultimately designed to assist the B. C. Community Corrections Branch in gaining insight from the results of the workshop as well as for targeting clinical and organizational interventions for managing work-related secondary traumatic stress and associated symptoms.
The development of attitudes and morality in adult offenders
(1974) Parlett, Thomas Arthur Antony; Downing, John
This study attempts to evaluate the effect of high level correctional education on penitentiary inmates. A system of education is proposed which will lead to the development of prosocial attitudes and moral judgment. It was also hypothesized that the cognitive style of the subjects would change from global to analytic. Attention is given to various models of attitude change, and to sequential stage development theories. The results of the study indicate that it is possible to bring about changes in attitudes, as measured by a semantic differential scale, changes towards a more analytic cognitive style, and a development of moral knowledge and moral ideology. Six hypotheses are tested relating to extraversion and neuroticism, personality factors, cognitive style, attitudes, and morality. The study was by nature an operational research rather than a laboratory type. However care was taken to make sure that appropriate steps were taken to ensure a reasonably tight design. The duration of the study was five and one half months from pre- test to post- test. The subjects, numbering thirty six at pre-test were inmates of a federal maximum security penitentiary in British Columbia. The subjects were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. There was some drop out from both groups.
Meditations on the (Im)possibility of regicide: Foucault, government and state sovereignty
(1999) Ng, Konrad Gar-Yeu; Tully, James
This thesis investigates the sovereignty problematic and its implications for (re)articulating the political in the absence/presence of the state. Specifically, I sketch three stances. First, I historicise the practices of state sovereignty and government. Second, I retrace Foucault's studies in governmentality as a reply to the sovereignty problematic. Third, I examine how the sovereignty problematic unfolds in post Foucauldian readings of the political, given the processes of movement and change. I argue that post-Foucauldian theorists are unable to resolve Foucault's "incomplete" attempt at regicide. This incompleteness reveals the main stake of (re)articulating the political in the absence/ presence of the state: the line of inside/ outside. Ultimately, what is needed is an interrogation of the ubiquitous role of the statal political community as a measure and model for understanding political life. The politics of inside/ outside remains a political fiction that moderns are not prepared to give up.
The structuring of women's experiences of leaving abusive relationship: a feminist critical discourse analysis
(2001) Moreau, Jeannine Therese; Teghtsoonian, Katherine Anne
Recognizing that issues concerning women in abusive intimate relationships are still pervasive I undertook a study to gain new insight by hearing from women themselves. I focused on three women's experiences of moving out of abusive intimate relationships into living circumstances without abuse or violence. Through in-depth interviews I learned of their capacities, struggles, and barriers they faced as well as their turning points, insights, strengths, and accomplishments. The transcribed interviews are the texts for discourse analysis. A critical discourse analysis provides a means to explicate the assumptions and ideological relations structuring the women's experiences of leaving abusive intimate relationships. Ideologies within discourses provide form and structure to people's understandings of family, marriage, violence, abuse, religion, and contemporary welfare and social policies that frame their experiences in particular ways. This analysis illuminates how dominant discourses influenced the women and in tum how they resisted the discourses as they developed their self-images, made decisions and acted.

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