Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1992

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

C, Glennon Rowell, Bethany K. Dumas

Committee Members

Ed Roesky, Betty Heathington,

Abstract

The purpose of this study was the analysis of the techniques used in evaluation in eight monologues recorded by four student teachers during their 15 weeks of student teaching. The study was intended to supplement the literature on the use of journals in student teaching and to expand our understanding of the function of discourse. The investigator found no other studies that had been conducted with monologues recorded in private and intended for reflective and informative purposes. The monologues were elicited as an assignment to a group of students at the beginning of their student teaching. These audio-journals were intended for reflection and communication with the supervisor but were produced without the constraints inherent in written journals, i.e., composition, spelling, and handwriting. The investigator segmented the transcribed texts into components which fell into five categories: orientation (who, what, when, where); assertion (statement, declaration); evidence (substantiation, explanation); evaluation (so what?); and conclusion (signals end of monologue). The evaluation techniques used for external evaluation in narratives (Labov:1972) were adapted by the investigator for use in monologues and were used to determine the quantity and quality of the evaluative components. These techniques were: explicit statement, sentiment while speaking, quoting herself, third person evaluates, telling what someone did, including herself, and delay of forward movement. The six techniques were used throughout the monologues and of the total instances of the six techniques, "Telling what someone did, including herself" was used most often (40% of total uses). The least used technique was "Third person evaluates." It was found that the student teachers evaluated their experiences frequently, using 92% of the total monologue components for evaluation. Of the components used for evaluation, 56% were used to evaluate the 20 critical attributes and the suggested and required activities listed in the Student Teaching Handbook. The intentional or inadvertent pursuance of a personal agenda was indicated. Evidence of reflection was found in the monologues as the student teachers spoke of their experiences and other facets of their transition from student to teacher. Based on previous experience, the investigator concluded that student teachers' audio-journals were suited for the purposes of communication and reflection and appeared to be more time and energy efficient than traditional written journals. The scarcity of literature points to the need for more research on both student teaching and on monologues.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS