Mobile Technology for Language Learning and Instruction: Investigating Beliefs and Attitudes of Indonesian EFL Preservice Teachers

This study is primarily aimed to investigate beliefs and attitudes of Indonesian EFL preservice teachers toward the use of mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets for learning and instructional practice in Indonesia. Furthermore, this phenomenological study attempted to reveal the factors affecting these two constructs from 20 Indonesian EFL preservice teachers through semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed participants’ beliefs that mobile devices could positively contribute to the development of language performance as learning tools and the development of language instruction as instructional tools. Regarding attitudes of EFL preservice teachers toward the use of mobile devices for learning and teaching, this study revealed mixed responses. As learning tools, all participants expressed their positive attitudes toward this technology and intention to use this technology more intensively. As for teaching tools, the majority of the participants expressed their negative attitudes which were reflected in their disappointment through their experience during their student teaching program and their lack of interest to adopt this technology for their future classes. However, they acknowledged that this technology was helpful to facilitate online learning and agreed that this technology would become more popular in the future. Analysis of the data also revealed factors affecting beliefs and attitudes of preservice teachers toward the use of mobile devices as learning and instructional tools comprising perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and other influencing elements of self-efficacy: enactive mastery, vicarious experience, and physiological arousal. Finally, this study presents implications and recommendations which can be a reference to optimize the integrated mobile technology for class instruction and identifies which aspects in the implementation of mobile technology that require further investigation

Gender and sexuality in paranormal romance : the postfeminist agenda of contemporary vampire narratives

Since the mid-2000s, American popular culture has fallen under the reign of the vampire, and the bloodsucker is only slowly releasing its grip. In particular, recent years have seen the expansion of a massive vampire romance industry. By tracing the connections between three recent vampire romance series possessing tremendous discursive and ideological power, the “Twilight” film series (2008-2012) as well as the TV series “The Vampire Diaries” (2009-2017) and “True Blood” (2008-2014), this dissertation sets out to determine the cultural politics of these extraordinarily popular texts. In this research, contemporary vampire romance is understood and examined as a locus for the articulation of postfeminist ideologies, and a host to current discourses about gender, sexuality, subjectivity, agency and the body. Discussing a range of conflicting meanings contained in the narratives, this dissertation critically looks at the hybrid paranormal romance genre’s engagement with postfeminist issues, such as everyday sexism and violence against women, power relations in heterosexual relationships, sexual autonomy and pleasure, (self-)empowerment, and (self-)surveillance. As this research shows, the liminal figure of the vampire is ideally suited to incorporate postfeminism’s contradictions, working as a projection surface for postfeminist discourses surrounding gender, sexuality, subjectivation, self-discipline and the management of the body. Providing a discursive and ideological textual analysis of contemporary vampire romance, this study asks: Why are these genre texts so popular right now, what specific desires, issues and fears are addressed and negotiated by them, and what kinds of pleasures do they offer

Prison staff perceptions of their role in the rehabilitation & desistance support of prisoners

Date on title page (2019) is incorrect. Date of award is 2020.The principle objective of my ethnographical investigation was to interrogate prison staff perceptions in a Scottish prison to their role in affecting positive change, how this integrates into regular regimes of security and care and how they are trained to be positive agents of change. Research literature concludes that prison officers are the mainstay of the prison system, but rehabilitation and desistance support for prisoners is secondary to their primary role of security and care. In response to the Scottish Government's expectation that prisons reduce recidivism, the Scottish Prison Service introduced two strategies: (i) to positively transform the provision for prisoners internally and with community reintegration externally; (ii) to professionalise prison officer's service to transform how they facilitate positive change and desistance support for prisoners. I believe my empirical research has added to the knowledge of rehabilitation and desistance support in a penal environment through the lens of prison officers using a unique combination of video recordings of training and focus groups and audio recordings of one-to-one interviews which augment my observations, notes and interview responses, and provide an ontological perspective of a prison officer's occupation. My findings identify perspectival dichotomies and suggest that: training only provides new recruits with the bare essentials to undertake their primary function of security and care, positively conditions them to violence, but also conditions them to view prisoners negatively; poor intra- and inter-communication between different teams and groups of prison officers limits and impedes support of a prisoner's desistance journey; the architectural design of the prison has created a divide metaphorically and physically, so much so that rehabilitative support is seen as a formal process operating in specific areas of the prison away from the residential wings where a prisoner is likely to spend the majority of time incarcerated. What is claimed to be an holistic approach across the whole of the prison is unattainable due to the centralisation and concentration of 'support' in areas separated from the residential wings, and where prison staff have to make stark choices on who they can protect and support. Thus, strategies for the facilitation of rehabilitation, I contend, are not fundamentally meeting the needs of prisoners but the strategic goals of the Government, courts and prison service, where what is processed can be tangibly accountable through KPIs, contractual obligations and be fiscally affordable.The principle objective of my ethnographical investigation was to interrogate prison staff perceptions in a Scottish prison to their role in affecting positive change, how this integrates into regular regimes of security and care and how they are trained to be positive agents of change. Research literature concludes that prison officers are the mainstay of the prison system, but rehabilitation and desistance support for prisoners is secondary to their primary role of security and care. In response to the Scottish Government's expectation that prisons reduce recidivism, the Scottish Prison Service introduced two strategies: (i) to positively transform the provision for prisoners internally and with community reintegration externally; (ii) to professionalise prison officer's service to transform how they facilitate positive change and desistance support for prisoners. I believe my empirical research has added to the knowledge of rehabilitation and desistance support in a penal environment through the lens of prison officers using a unique combination of video recordings of training and focus groups and audio recordings of one-to-one interviews which augment my observations, notes and interview responses, and provide an ontological perspective of a prison officer's occupation. My findings identify perspectival dichotomies and suggest that: training only provides new recruits with the bare essentials to undertake their primary function of security and care, positively conditions them to violence, but also conditions them to view prisoners negatively; poor intra- and inter-communication between different teams and groups of prison officers limits and impedes support of a prisoner's desistance journey; the architectural design of the prison has created a divide metaphorically and physically, so much so that rehabilitative support is seen as a formal process operating in specific areas of the prison away from the residential wings where a prisoner is likely to spend the majority of time incarcerated. What is claimed to be an holistic approach across the whole of the prison is unattainable due to the centralisation and concentration of 'support' in areas separated from the residential wings, and where prison staff have to make stark choices on who they can protect and support. Thus, strategies for the facilitation of rehabilitation, I contend, are not fundamentally meeting the needs of prisoners but the strategic goals of the Government, courts and prison service, where what is processed can be tangibly accountable through KPIs, contractual obligations and be fiscally affordable

Changing narratives of minority peoples' identities in Welsh and Basque film

This thesis discusses how changing narratives of Welsh and Basque identity have been represented in film. It builds on Higson’s (1989) notion of ‘heritage film’, and ideas derived from postcolonial theory to develop a threefold system of classification. It develops an argument that narratives of identity have shifted from long-standing ‘traditional’ essentialist versions centred on heteropatriarchy and collective, stable narratives of identity; through a transitional stage featuring the reversal of dualisms on which the ‘traditional’ is grounded and narratives based much more on the individual and connected to a crisis in masculinity; to a stage that transcends these dualisms through featuring ambiguous narratives of multiple selves and characters caught between fractured selves and global currents. Films are thus classified according to the degree that they may preserve, reverse or transcend traditional narratives of identities. Analysis focuses on elements such as the representation of minority nationhood, rural and urban landscapes, character, religion, gendered familial and social roles, aspects of community, cultural heritage, resistance and stories about sameness and difference, continuity and discontinuity, charting how these alter to shape new narratives of identities. It describes how films over the period from the 1930s to the present document the impact of politics and wider social changes and trends on Basque and Welsh peoples, for instance the impacts of Thatcherism and in the case of the Basques, the Civil War, Franco’s regime and post Franco democracy. This threefold system of classification is used to structure the chapters of this thesis. By comparing and contrasting Welsh and Basque films, this thesis identifies common themes that may be evident in film narratives of other minority peoples’ cultures and identities

‘Reading’ and ‘Translating’ Emotions: Nationalism in Contemporary Greek Cinema

This study explores emotions related to nationalism, and their manifestations in contemporary Greek cinema. It also investigates the reasons and mechanisms giving rise to nationalism, and how it is perceived, expressed and ‘translated’ into other cultures. A core focus within the nationalist paradigm is the theme of national identity, with social exclusion ideologies such as racism operating in the background. Two contemporary Greek films have been chosen, which deal with themes of identity, nationalism, xenophobia, anger and fear in different contexts. The study is carried out by drawing on the theories of emotion, language, translation and cinema, to analyse the visual and audio components of the two films and ascertain their translatability to an Australian audience. Both films depict a similar milieu to each other, which is plagued by the lingering nature of all the unresolved political and national issues faced by the Greek nation, in addition to the economic crisis, a severe refugee crisis, and externally imposed policy issues, as well as numerous other social problems stemming from bureaucracy, red tape and widespread state-led corruption, which have resulted in massive rates of unemployment and financial hardship that have befallen a major part of the population. In spite of their topicality, the themes are universal and prevalent in a number of countries to varying degrees, as cultural borders become increasingly integrated, both socially and economically. It is concluded that nationalism and its underlying emotions are readily translatable between the target cultures of Greece and Australia, as they remain at the core of our political discourse and sociocultural context

Stories from an art institution: The writing lives of students with dyslexia

This thesis explores the complex and shifting relationships between writing, the art institution and constructs of dyslexia. At the time of its submission, a detailed study of dyslexia within a post-humanist framework is unique. This thesis engages with the writing lives of six art students diagnosed with dyslexia over the course of an academic year. It interrogates writing in some of its many manifestations, notably writing as an academic, assessed and measurable outcome and writing as a form of fluid and imaginative communication. By placing writing in the art school, I explore both institutional power more broadly, and constructs of the art school, and examine how these relationships interact with and create each other. To do this I actively use ideas around place, objects and materials as factors in the shaping, becoming and making-invisible of dyslexia. I question dyslexia as a fixed and medicalised model, combining theory and practical methods of research to problematise dyslexia and to explore how it comes to be, and its fluctuating relationship to the student participants. I use a post-humanist framework to consider disability, writing, and active, radical pedagogies. I have turned to thinkers including Haraway, Goodley, Butler, Foucault, and Deleuze and Guattari to think through these problems. Refuting the arboreal model of knowledge has allowed me to work with participants, present their stories, navigate the art institution, engage in discourse around dis/ability and writing and develop new and exciting ways of making writing a rich, viable, valid and accessible creative practice. As a direct result of this, I have authored, had validated, and now teach the BA (Hons) Creative Writing undergraduate degree in my institution. This is the only creative wring degree course in an arts institution in the North of England and the only one informed by this radical pedagogy and post-humanist framework. 6 This research contributes to knowledge theoretically, methodologically and pedagogically. Methodologically, the structure and assemblage of the thesis reflects and shapes its subject matter and makes manifest actual students’ writing lives, thereby bringing theoretical considerations and practical circumstances together in a novel way. Regarding theory and pedagogy, the rhizome enables me to interrogate dyslexia differently, and to produce new understandings of a) dyslexia, b) writing, c) the art institution, d) me as a researcher, e) places of research, and f) post-humanist approaches to ethics in research. It does this by employing a critical disability perspective which opens up the relevance of my radical pedagogy to many underrepresented groups and to those who might be regarded as mainstream. The conditions created by this research make this possible and are replicable. This research demonstrates a framework (through explanation and documentation of the 3 workshops) that is portable, transferable and flexible. It can be and has been applied to community groups, adult education students, tutors, community arts groups, literature festivals, writing circles, F.E. and 6th form students across arts and humanities, with dyslexia specialist teachers, with artist lecturers/practitioners, amongst M Level and doctoral students, with groups of young people transitioning from further to higher education, with widening participation cohorts and with potential H.E. applicants from polar quintiles 4 and 5. This research has produced, and continues to produce, peer reviewed articles, conference presentations, creative fiction and non-fiction. This thesis demonstrates a different and transferable way of doing research. It has a life beyond its printed text. It exists in the lives of the participants, in the propagation of the writing workshops and in the development, writing and teaching of the BA (Hons) Creative Writing degree. This thesis presents a vibrant and theoretically sound radical pedagogy which may inspire and provide a blueprint for critically aware, imaginative, liberating and productive teaching and learning

An analysis of the rules and procedures of reporting fraud and corruption in the Department of Trade and Industry

The primary goal of this study is firstly to analyse the Fraud Prevention Policy and Strategy, the Policy on Protection of Whistle-Blowers, and the Policy Document on Forensic Audit Process of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in order to establish the reason for the ongoing spate of fraudulent and corrupt activities among employees within the DTI Head Office, regardless of the relevant policies put in place. Secondly, another goal is also to establish other reasons that could be linked to the reoccurrence of fraudulent and corrupt activities within the DTI. During the research survey questionnaires were administered to employees of the DTI. Furthermore, online interviews were conducted with a purposively selected sample within two divisions of the DTI. In addition, a literature study was conducted to acquire relevant information and perspectives from available national and international literature. Various objectives were fulfilled in this study as follows: It was established whether the reporting of internal or external fraud and corruption and the relevant policies put in place contribute in any manner to the prevention of fraudulent and corrupt activities at the Department of Trade and Industry's national office. It was determined if there is a policy document on measuring these policies after they have been implemented. It was determined how the Department of Trade and Industry's national head office addresses fraud and corruption. Other possible reasons for the Department of Trade and Industry employees' lack of reporting fraud and corruption in their departments, other than the fear of being victimised, were identified. The views and opinions on the internal reporting of fraud and corruption were determined. The degree of awareness of the investigative procedures related to fraud and corruption among the Department of Trade and Industry management and their employees were determined. It was established if employees have faith in the Department of Trade and Industry's investigative procedures to fraud and corruption. The extent of knowledge on the importance of reporting fraudulent and corrupt activities in the DTI were established. Feedback to help minimise fraud and corruption within the Department of Trade and Industry and improve future strategies was provided. This study contributes to the knowledge base with regard to fraud and corruption within the Department of Trade and Industry.Criminology and Security ScienceM. Tech (Policing

Dance/movement therapy and the psychosocial well-being of learners with visual impairment : a case study

This transformative mixed method case study investigated the influence of Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) as a physical activity on the psychosocial well-being of learners with the visual impairment of low vision in a school for the visually impaired in Gauteng. A study of existing literature indicated a series of psychological and social dynamics which shape a person with low vision’s self-esteem and subsequent psychosocial well-being. A DMT intervention programme was designed accordingly. Through a filtering process, six female, adolescent participants with possible self-esteem challenges were identified. These participants completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) prior to taking part in the eight 60 minute sessions of the DMT intervention programme. The RSES was completed again post-intervention. Results indicated an increase in the self-esteem levels of all six participants to various degrees. Qualitative measures, including observations schedules, process notes in a researcher’s diary and participant reflections in DMT Journey Journals supported quantitative findings.Mokgwa o, o o tswakantseng was diphetogo wa dithuto o batlisitse thotloetso ya Motantsho/ Motsamao wa pholo jaaka ikatiso ya mmele mo go itekanelong/ boitekanelong jwa tlhaloganyo ya barutwana ba ba sa boneng sentle mo sekolong sa bana ba ba sa boneng mo kgaolong/ porofinsi ya Gauteng. Dipatlisiso tsa dikwalo tse di leng teng di supa tatelano ya tlhaloganyo le loago e e farologaneng e e bopang go tlhoka go itshepa ga motho yo a neng le pono e e bokowa le tlhaloganyo le botho jwa gagwe. Ka jalo lenaneo la tseregano la DMT le ile la diriwa. Ka mokgwa wa go tlhopha, makgarebe a baša a le marataro, a a nang le mathata a go tlhoka boitshepo a ile a tlhopiwa. Ba tsaya karolo ba ba ile ba tlatsa kgotsa ba konosetsa selekano sa boitshepo sa Rosenberg (RSES) pele ba tsaya karolo mo go lenaneong la dikarolo tse robedi tsa metsotso e le 60 ya tserenanyo ya DMT. Morago ga tsereganyo selekano se ile sa tladiwa gape. Dipholo di supile kgolo e e farologaneng ya boitshepo mo go batsayakarolo botlhe ba le barataro. Ditekanyetso tsa boleng, tse di akaretsang lenaneo la ditlhokomediso, dintlha tsa tiriso tsa letsatsi le letsatsi mmatlisisi le maikutlo a batsaakarolo di totobatsa dipholo tse.dintsi mo dikwalong tsa tsela ya DMT.Die invloed van die fisiese aktiwiteit van Dans/Bewegingsterapie op die psigososiale welstand van leerders met lae visie in ‘n skool vir gesiggestremde leerders in Gauteng is deur hierdie transformatiewe gemengde metode gevallestudie ondersoek. ‘n Studie van bestaande literatuur het ‘n reeks sielkundige en sosiale faktore wat die persoon met lae visie se self-beeld en gevolglike psigososiale welstand vorm uitgelig en ‘n Dans/Bewegingsterapie intervensieprogram is daarvolgens ontwerp. Ses vroulike adolesente deelnemers met moontlike self-beeld uitdagings is deur middel van ‘n filtreringsproses geïdentifiseer. Hierdie deelnemers het die Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) voor en na hulle deelname aan 8 60 minute sessies van die Dans/Bewegingsterapie intervensieprogram voltooi. Resultate het onderskeidelik ‘n toename in selfbeeldvlakke van al ses deelnemers tot in verskillende mates aangedui. Kwalitatiewe maatstawwe soos die gebruik van obserwasieskedules, prosesnotas in ‘n navorserdagboek en deelnemers se refleksies in hulle persoonlike Dans/Bewegingsterapie joernale het die kwantitatiewe bevindinge ondersteun.Psychology of EducationM. Ed. (School Guidance and Counselling

Unlocking the Word Hoard: The Potential of Literacy Learning in the Social Reintegration of Ex Offenders, Disabled People and those Discharged from the Armed Forces.

The allusion in the title of this thesis to the Anglo Saxon epic poem ‘Beowulf’ speaks to the power of personal narration. Drawing on the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Methodology has enabled participants to make their voices heard, in contrast to alternative forms of rhetoric, which might lead to dysfunctional behaviour. It has been my privilege as a researcher to translate their oral narratives into a written account of their versions of their lives. These narratives have the potential to link self understanding with social structures, including access to training and employment, and to lead to reintegration as fuller members of society. The assumptions underlying my research are that those included in my study – ex offenders, people with disabilities and those discharged from the Armed Forces - can be isolated and excluded from full membership of society by social and political forces which are beyond their control; and that they have linked vulnerabilities to crises including unemployment, homelessness and suicide. However, they have individual agency to overcome the effects of social exclusion; and literacy and other forms of learning have a potentially transformational role in their social reintegration. Those who have offended are especially at risk of experiencing the most oppressive aspects of social exclusion, including lack of access to literacy learning and vocational training. Their efforts to be reintegrated by these means do not follow a linear progression and can be subject to delay, interruption and disappointment, which can reinforce their social exclusion. I have explored the double edged nature of literacy. Language and imagery can be tools of individual agency for my participants’ personal development and social integration but moral assumptions and narratives are employed as rhetorical tools for marginalisation and the privileging of particular ideological preferences, which can be experienced as further subtle means of exclusion. However, participants’ narratives have challenged and broadened my original assumptions on the nature and impact of exclusion on those included in my study; the transition experiences which can be formative for individuals, including the points between development of a disability, release from prison or discharge from the Armed Forces, and access to learning; the nature of learning, which can play a part in restoring and resolving identity; and the ways in which reflexivity and instrumentality can be developed in support of individual agency. Listening to participants’ narratives, characterised by use of metaphor as an alternative form of language and self-expression, has highlighted the ways in which participants in my research have defied the application to themselves of a binary approach to the concepts of social exclusion and social inclusion. In their engagement in Foucault’s (1980: 102) ‘contested interactions’ with power structures, they have echoed the values and tenets of critical literacy theory and critical pedagogy in a wider context of learning than I had envisaged. This has led to reintegration as fuller members of society, on their own terms, for themselves and for fellow people with disabilities, ex offenders and ex Armed Forces colleagues

Proceedings of the Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC) 2011

These proceedings bring together a selection of papers from the 2011 Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference(SPARC). It includes papers from PhD students in the arts and social sciences, business, computing, science and engineering, education, environment, built environment and health sciences. Contributions from Salford researchers are published here alongside papers from students at the Universities of Anglia Ruskin, Birmingham City, Chester,De Montfort, Exeter, Leeds, Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores and Manchester