Creating a Space for Self-Transformation: Factors of Success for Adult Literacy Learners with Specific Learning Difficulties

A significant number of adults in adult literacy programs in Ontario have specific learning difficulties. This study sought to examine the holistic factors that contributed to these learners achieving their goals. Through a case study design, the data revealed that a combination of specific learning methods and strategies, along with particular characteristics of the instructor, participant, and class, and the evidence of self-transformation all seemed to contribute to the participant's success in the program. Instructor-directed teaching and cooperative learning were the main learning methods used in the class. General learning strategies employed were the use of core curriculum and authentic documents, and using phonics, repetition, assistive resources, and using activities that appealed to various learning styles. The instructor had a history of both professional development in the area of learning disabilities as well as experience working with learners who had specific learning difficulties. There also seemed to be a goodness of fit between the participant and the instructor. Several characteristics of the participant seemed to aid in his success: his positive self-esteem, self-advocacy skills, self-determination, self-awareness, and the fact that he enjoyed learning. The size (3-5 people) and type of class (small group) also seemed to have an impact. Finally, evidence that the participant went through a self-transformation seemed to contribute to a positive learner identity. These results have implications for practice, theory, and further research in adult education.

Reading Rocks Junior: A Mixed-Methodological Study of the Efficacy and Accessibility of an Emergent Literacy Intervention

This thesis explored early literacy development in young vulnerable readers. More specifically, this thesis examined an emergent literacy program called Reading Rocks Junior offered by the Learning Disabilities Association of Niagara Region to children four- to six-years of age living in low socioeconomic status communities. Three methodologies were combined to create a rich and complete picture of an effective and accessible literacy program. First of all, a description of the Reading Rocks Junior program is outlined. Secondly, quantitative data that was collected pre- and post- program was analyzed to demonstrate achievement gains made as a result of participating in the program. Finally, qualitative interviews with the program coordinator, the convener of the agency that funded Reading Rocks Junior and three parents whose children participated in the program were analyzed to determine the contextual factors that make Reading Rocks Junior a success.

Insights Into the Remembered Educational Experiences of Male Caribbean Immigrants to Canada: Literacy and Identity in the Canadian Classroom

Abstract Past research has addressed the issue of male underachievement in literacy as an issue of global concern. This qualitative study focused on one subgroup of males which the literature highlighted as most at risk of educational underachievement in the Canadian educational landscape: male Caribbean immigrants to Canada. The research questions that framed the study sought to gain insight into the educational experiences of this group of learners so that ways through which their literacy achievement as measured by academic performance and classroom engagement could be projected. New literacy studies view literacy as socioculturally bound in social, institutional, and cultural relationships (Gee 1996). Literacy can therefore be thought of as an extension of self that Lankshear and Knobel (2006) assert is always connected to social identities. Central to the research questions as a result of this perspective was the discovery of the ideologies of reading held by the participants and their connections to literacy practice. Supplementary questions delved into socially valued literacy practices and ways in which learners saw themselves as Black males reflected in the Canadian educational framework. In this qualitative study with an interview design, data were collected through individual semistructured interviews with the 4 participants and through a focus group session with all the participants. The findings depicted that identity, interests, and ideologies of reading all influenced the literacy practices and engagement of Caribbean males. The findings documented are valuable as they provide a fresh perspective surrounding the educational experiences of the male Caribbean learner and can present insights which can lead to enhanced academic engagement and improved student achievement for this group of learners.

Self-directed learning, stress and the adult learner /

The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate the relationship between the degree of self-directed learning readiness and stress for level one nursing students and level two nursing students. One hundred female nursing students participated in the study who were attending an Ontario Community College. Data were collected from the main nursing campus and the satellite nursing campus using the random sample method. Instruments used were said to be valid and reliable for testing self-directed learning readiness and stress respectively. Data were analyzed using frequency response to each item, means and standard deviation, and the Pearson product correlation between selfdirected learning readiness and stress. The results of the study show that there is a difference in the relationship between the degree of self-directed learning readiness and stress between the level one nursing students and the level two nursing students. Such results will be of particular interest to nursing instructors and administrators when planning for delivery of programs to such students.

Learning to be literate : parental empowerment in early literacy interventions

Considerable research has focused on the success of early intervention programs for children. However, minimal research has focused on the effect these programs have on the parents of targeted children. Many current early intervention programs champion family-focused and inclusive programming, but few have evaluated parent participation in early interventions and fewer still have evaluated the impact of these programs on beliefs and attitudes and parenting practices. Since parents will continue to play a key role in their child's developmental course long after early intervention programs end, it is vital to examine whether these programs empower parents to take action to make changes in the lives of their children. The goal of this study was to understand parental influences on the early development of literacy, and in particular how parental attitudes, beliefs and self efficacy impact parent and child engagement in early literacy intervention activities. A mixed method procedure using quantitative and qualitative strategies was employed. A quasi-experimental research design was used. The research sample, sixty parents who were part of naturally occurring community interventions in at- risk neighbourhoods in a south-western Ontario city participated in the quantitative phase. Largely individuals whose home language was other than English, these participants were divided amongst three early literacy intervention groups, a Prescriptive Interventionist type group, a Participatory Empowering type group and a drop-in parent- child neighbourhood Control group. Measures completed pre and post a six session literacy intervention, on all three literacy and evidence of change in parental empowerment. Parents in all three groups, on average, held beliefs about early literacy that were positive and that were compatible with current approaches to language development and emergent literacy. No significant change in early literacy beliefs and attitudes for pre to post intervention was found. Similarly, there was no significant difference between groups on empowerment scores, but there was a significant change post intervention in one group's empowerment score. There was a drop in the empowerment score for the Prescriptive Interventionist type group, suggesting a drop in empowerment level. The qualitative aspect of this study involved six in-depth interviews completed with a sub-set of the sixty research participants. Four similar themes emerged across the groups: learning takes place across time and place; participation is key; success is achieved by taking small steps; and learning occurs in multiple ways. The research findings have important implications for practitioners and policy makers who target at risk populations with early intervention programming and wish to sustain parental empowerment. Study results show the value parents place on early learning and point to the importance of including parents in the development and delivery of early intervention programs. groups, were analyzed for evidence of change in parental attitudes and beliefs about early literacy and evidence of change in parental empowerment. Parents in all three groups, on average, held beliefs about early literacy that were positive and that were compatible with current approaches to language development and emergent literacy. No significant change in early literacy beliefs and attitudes for pre to post intervention was found. Similarly, there was no significant difference between groups on empowerment scores, but there was a significant change post intervention in one group's empowerment score. There was a drop in the empowerment score for the Prescriptive Interventionist type group, suggesting a drop in empowerment level. The qualitative aspect of this study involved six in-depth interviews completed with a sub-set of the sixty research participants. Four similar themes emerged across the groups: learning takes place across time and place; participation is key; success is achieved by taking small steps; and learning occurs in multiple ways. The research findings have important implications for practitioners and policy makers who target at risk populations with early intervention programming and wish to sustain parental empowerment. Study results show the value parents place on early learning and point to the importance of including parents in the development and delivery of early intervention programs.

Exploring the emergent literacy needs of preschoolers with language impairments

Current research indicates the need to identify and support children at-risk for reading difficulties as early as possible. Children with language impairments are one group of children who have been shown to be at-risk for literacy problems. Their difficulties likely stem from the challenges they tend to experience with acquiring emergent literacy skills as preschoolers. Very little empirical work has been done with preschoolers with language impairments to explore the nature of their emergent literacy development or their response to interventions which target emergent literacy skills. In the present study, 55 preschoolers with language impairments were recruited from a speech and language centre in Southern Ontario. The nature of the relationship between children's early language and literacy skills was explored using measures of their written language awareness, phonological awareness and oral language abilities, in an attempt to better understand how to conceptualize their emergent literacy abilities. Furthermore, a between-subjects design was used to compare two language interventions: an experimental emergent literacy intervention and a standard intervention based on traditional models of speech and language therapy. Results indicated that preschooler's emergent literacy abilities can be understood as a broad, multi-dimensional construct consisting of three separate but interrelated components: written language awareness, phonological awareness, and oral language. The emergent literacy-enhanced intervention was generally superior to the standard language intervention in improving children's skills in written language awareness, and children with the most severe impairments seemed to benefit the most from the experimental intervention. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as areas for future research are discussed. .

An after-school literacy program : investigating the experiences of students with literacy difficulties, their volunteer tutors, and the tutors' transition into the teaching profession

This research responds to a pervasive call for our educational institutions to provide students with literacy skills, and teachers with the instructional supports necessary to facilitate this skill acquisition. Questions were posed to gain information concerning the efficacy ofteaching literacy strategies to students with learning difficulties, the impact of this training on their volunteer tutors, and the influence of this experience on these tutors' ensuing instructional practice as teacher candidates in a preservice education program. Study #1 compared a nontreatment group of students with literacy difficulties who participated in the program and found that program participants were superior at reading letter patterns and at comprehending the elements of story grammar. Concurrently, the second study explored the experiences of 19 volunteer tutors and uncovered that they acquired instructional skills as they established a knowledge base in teaching reading and writing, and they affirmed personal goals to become future teachers. Study #3 tracked 6 volunteer tutors into their pre-service year and identified their constructions, and beliefs about literacy instruction. These teacher candidates discussed how they had intended to teach reading and writing strategies based on their position that effective teaching ofthese skills in the primary grades is integral to academic success. The teacher candidates emphasized the need to build rapport with students, and the need to exercise flexibility in lesson plan delivery while including activities to meet emotional and developmental requirements of students. The teacher candidates entered their pre-service education with an initial cognition set based on the limited teaching context of tutoring. This foundational ii perception represented their prior knowledge of literacy instruction, a perception that appeared untenable once they were immersed in a regular instructional setting. This disparity provoked some of the teacher candidates to denounce their teacher mentors for not consistently employing literacy strategies and individualized instruction. This critical perspective could have been a demonstration of cognitive dissonance. In the end, when the teacher candidates began to look toward the future and how they would manage the demands of an inclusive classroom, they recognized the differences in the contexts. With an appreciation for the need for balance between prior and present knowledge, the teacher candidates remained committed to implementing their tutoring strategies in future teaching positions. This document highlights the need for teacher candidates with instructional experience prior to teacher education, to engage in cognitive negotiations to assimilate newly acquired pedagogies into existing pedagogies.

Teaching media literacy skills about commercials: a comparative analysis of media literacy instruction /

In this study, methods of media literacy instruction including analytic activities, production activities, and a combination of analytic and production activities were compared to determine their influence on grade 8 students' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours towards commercials. The findings showed that media literacy instruction does improve media literacy skills. Specifically, activities that included an analytic component or an analytic and production component were significantly better than activities that included a production component. Participants that completed analytic or analytic and production activities were able to discern media-related terms, target audience, selling techniques, social values, and stereotypes in commercials better than participants that completed only production activities. The research findings also showed obstacles when teaching media literacy. When engaged in analytic activities, the difficulties included locating suitable resources, addressing the competition from commercials, encouraging written reflection, recognizing social values, and discussing racial stereotypes. When engaged in production activities, the difficulties were positioning recording stations, managing group work, organizing ideas, filming the footage, computer issues, and scheduling time. Strategies to overcome these obstacles are described.

Paradigms and prisons: a narrative of translation and transformation : my hero's journey from "at-risk" youth to teacher/learner in a jail setting /

All life is suffering. Life is the pursuit ofhappiness. These are two foundational Buddhist dictums that, in their simplicity, I have entirely misunderstood regarding their depth, misreading them as contradictory. Indeed, my superficial interpretations led me to Thoreau's life ofquiet desperation and deep depression. We come to know and bring understanding to our lives by storying them. My own Hero's Journey, the path from my egoic selftoward the universal Self, can be understood as the resultant translations and transformations. Inevitably each of us is involved in such a story, though most are unaware of the stages along our own Hero's journey. ' Narrative honours writing as a means of knowing. The contemplative reflection allows insight into our imprisoning paradigms, beliefs, behaviours, and blind spots. My research revisits and explores nodal experiences along my Hero's Journey through 4 categories: self, society, soil, and Self. While the value of this process of narrative inquiry lay in its ability to come to know and understand one's self, perhaps its greater value is of a more universal nature. My inquiry, while adding to the body of academic educational narrative literature, may also illuminate a path to educators, students, and all interested, encouraging a response to the call of their own Hero's journey. I am a teacher/learner in a jail setting, working with youth between the ages of 12 and 18 who have committed crimes such as armed robbery, assault, rape, and murder. As this thesis follows my continual development from egoic self/teacher/learner to universal Self/Teacher/Learner, it also enables me to both consciously and unconsciously open the ways in which I expand my care, compassion, and love to work with at-risk youth.

Applying andragogy to the open college learner

Questionnaires were sent to 703 Open College students. The questionnaire asked questions regarding personal demographics, how they felt about andragogy as postulated by Malcolm Knowles, and invited responses pertaining to the institutional practices of Open College. Two hundred and ninety-four responses were received. The information was synthesized and used descriptively. The information regarding andragogy was also used descriptively and analyzed using chi-square. The statistics were compared by gender. No significant difference was found. Students rejected the concept of self-directed learning. They did use their past experience when preparing assignments, however. They also entered Open College in order to learn how to do something better rather than for esoteric reasons. In fact, their whole orientation to learning was very practical in nature. The factors motivating these learners were internal rather than external. In addition, institutional practices were identified that could further enhance the Open College experience.

Dialogue journal writing: a tool for critical reflection in the adult ESL learner

This study attempted to determine whether or not dialogue journal writing encouraged critical reflection in the adult ESL (English as a Second Language) learner. According to research in adult education and anecdotal evidence, the process ofdialogue journal writing can facilitate critical reflection in the adult learner. However, little research has been conducted to examine whether or not journal writing can facilitate critical reflection in the second language learner. As a result, ten low-intermediate level adult ESL students from Brock University's Intensive English Language Programme participated in a dialogue journal writing programme in their writing class. The participants wrote journal entries over a 10-week period, and were interviewed once throughout the process to determine their perceptions ofthe journal writing experience. They also were observed by the researcher throughout the journal writing sessions to establish whether any behaviours or intrusions might affect the participants' writing processes. After the content ofthe journals and the interviews, and the observations made by the researcher were analysed, it was confirmed that, for these participants, dialogue journal writing did not necessarily encourage critical reflection. Moreover, the participants' perceptions ofjournal writing were that it helped them to practise the syntax, vocabulary, and rhetorical patterns ofEnglish; nevertheless, it did not foster critical reflection or thinking.

The effect of literacy training on the self-concept of moderately mentally handicapped adults

In this single group, pretest/posttest design study the literacy level and self-concept of nine moderately mentally handicapped adults was assessed. The participants in the study were involved in reading lessons using the Ball-Stick-Bird reading system, a brainbased program. No significant differences were found in either literacy level or reading level after intervention. However, there were changes in reading behaviour. These changes occurred in the subskills ofdirectionality, letter-sound correspondence, wordreading, and use of reading materials.

Letting go : a self-study utilizing critical literacy as method in improving my practice /

This is a Self-study about my role as a teacher, driven by the question: "How do I improve my practice?" (Whitehead, 1989)? In this study, I explored the discomfort that I had with the way that I had been teaching. Specifically, I worked to uncover the reasons behind my obsessive (mis)management of my students. I wrote of how I came to give my Self permission for this critique: how I came to know that all knowledge is a construction, and that my practice, too, is a construction. I grounded this journey within my experiences. I constructed these experiences in narrative fomi in order to reach a greater understanding of how I came to be the teacher I initially was. I explored metaphors that impacted my practice, re-constructed them, and saw more clearly the assumptions and influences that have guided my teaching. I centred my inquiry into my teaching within an Action Reflection methodology, bon-owing Jack Whitehead's (1989) term to describe my version of Action Research. I relied upon the embedded cyclical pattern of Action Reflection to understand my teaching Self: beginning from a critical moment, reflecting upon it, and then taking appropriate action, and continuing in this way, working to improve my practice. To understand these critical moments, I developed a personal definition of critical literacy. I then tumed this definition inward. In treating my practice as a textual production, I applied critical literacy as a framework in coming to know and understand the construction that is my teaching. I grounded my thesis journey within my Self, positioning my study within my experiences of being a grade 1 teacher struggling to teach critical literacy. I then repositioned my journey to that of a grade 1 teacher struggling to use critical literacy to improve my practice. This journey, then, is about the transition from critical literacyit as-subject to critical literacy-as-instmctional-method in improving my practice. I joumeyed inwards, using a critical moment to build new understandings, leading me to the next critical moment, and continued in this cyclical way. I worked in this meandering yet deliberate way to reach a new place in my teaching: one that is more inclusive of all the voices in my room. I concluded my journey with a beginning: a beginning of re-visioning my practice. In telling the stories of my journey, of my teaching, of my experiences, I changed into the teacher that I am more comfortable with. I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a person's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a person humanized or de-humanized. (Ginott, as cited in Buscaglia, 2002, p. 22)

A conceptual analysis of research literature on teachers' ideology and literacy practices: extending the dialogue through a secondary analysis of high school English as an additional language contexts /

This thesis provides a conceptual analysis of research literature on teachers' ideology and literacy practices as well as a secondary analysis of three empirical studies and the ways in which the ideologies of the English as an Additional Language (EAL) (Street, 2005) teachers in these contexts impact the teaching of literacy in empowering/disabling ways. Several major theoretical components of Cummins (1996, 2000), Gee (1996, 2004) and Street (1995, 2001) are examined and integrated into a conceptual triad consisting of three main areas: power and ideology, validation of students ' cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and teaching that empowers. This triad provides the framework for the secondary analysis of three empirical studies on the ideologies of secondary EAL teachers. Implications of the findings from the conceptual and secondary analyses are examined in light of the research community and secondary school teachers of EAL.