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A sociolinguistic analysis of participants co-constructing the learning context in a graduate-level seminar
Abstract
This dissertation describes and analyzes how participants in one gender-informed graduate-level seminar socialized each other through joint construction of the learning environment and the learning. The research was conducted in two phases. First an ethnographic approach was used for collecting data over the course of the year in a graduate-level women's history seminar. Using ethnographic methods, I worked out an analysis of the learning environment--in particular the expectations of the professor, the motivations of participants, subject matter, and organization of space and activities. The second phase of the research used sociolinguistic methodology to arrive at an analysis of how the participants co-constructed the learning in a gender-informed collaborative classroom. Reviews of research on gender and graduate-level teaching and learning, constructivist and social constructivist learning theory, and learning processes in gender-informed classrooms formed the theoretical framework for the dissertation. Particularly relevant were studies which examined gender-balancing processes and constructivist perspectives in graduate-level learning. The study contributes to our understanding of how participants in a gender-informed seminar socialized each other and jointly constructed meanings. When the professor provided gender-informed subject matter to men and women who were willing to learn, then men and women became more conscious of the workings of gender in their own lives. In addition, the social context in the classroom became more supportive across gender lines. Through discussions alone, consciousness can be raised, but it is through collaborative work and group dialogue on individual projects that new understandings are integrated and demonstrated in written work and in social behavior.
Subject Area
Teacher education|Higher education|Curriculum development
Recommended Citation
Rearick, Mary Louise Waite, "A sociolinguistic analysis of participants co-constructing the learning context in a graduate-level seminar" (1992). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9233140.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9233140