Prof. Nancy
H. Hornberger Class/
individual meetings: Tuesdays 1-4
Education
334 / tel. 8-7957 Education
335
A seminar
course for dissertators. Emphasis is on
methods of data collection, data analysis, and writing, primarily but not
exclusively within the paradigm of ethnographic research in language and
education. Under the supervision of the
instructor, students will present their own work to the seminar for discussion,
critique, and advice. On occasion,
students may also present brief summaries of articles or books from the reading
list that they deem particularly relevant or useful for the ongoing discussion.
Course texts
There
is no assigned course text, but there are many suggested references, posted on
the Course Blackboard site, at https://courseweb.library.upenn.edu/
A
useful general reference, just published, is the 10-volume Springer Encyclopedia of Language and Education,
edited by N. H. Hornberger (2008).
Course
outline
9/9 Introduction and
scheduling
9/16
9/23
9/30
10/7
10/14 Penn Break
10/21
10/28
11/4
11/11
11/18
11/25
12/2
12/9
12/16
Upcoming presenters send their material or post it to Blackboard
by Saturday before their class presentation.
This will usually be no more than 3-5 pages of data or interview
transcript or 20-30 pages of written text.
Presenters should include cover letter with instructions and framing
questions for readers, to guide class discussion.
SOME POINTERS FOR DISSERTATORS
Minimum of three members:
chair, member, reader. In general, your
chair plays a very active role in advising you, the second member plays a minor
role in advising, and the reader reads final draft only. There may be variations on this pattern, particularly
if your second member provides a complementary area of expertise important to
your topic or method of research.
Other specifications:
Chair must be GSE faculty (standing).
Minimum of two must be Penn faculty (standing or
associated).
Minimum of one should be from outside your program
specialization faculty.
You may have a fourth member as “outside reader.”
External members ( from outside
Penn) must be approved via a special form from Student Records along with the
c.v. of the external member. The student
bears responsibility for transportation expenses for the external member.
Essential elements of the dissertation proposal
1.
statement of problem /
definition/delimitation of topic / statement of purpose
(conceptual framework / theoretical approach / literature
review)
(personal motivation / interest in topic)
2.
research design:
questions and methodology
(setting, participants, methods of data collection &
data analysis)
3.
scholarly significance and implications
/ expected contribution to knowledge
4.
research timeline
5.
(optional) dissertation chapter outline
In writing the proposal
and, eventually, the dissertation, use a standard style. APA style is the most usual in our
field: see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Be consistent in your reference citation,
giving specific page numbers (e.g. Hymes 1974: 101). Always include a complete list of
references with any piece of writing you give your dissertation chair or
committee.
Essential elements of the dissertation
There is no one and only format for a
dissertation; this is particularly true in qualitative and ethnographic
research. However, there are some essential elements, which can be boiled down
to three: conceptual framework, findings, and implications. These elements fall out naturally when you
consider that a dissertation is intended to show that (1) you are steeped in a
body of theory and research in a particular academic area; (2) you have done
some original research in that area; and (3) you can show how your research
findings connect back to that body of theory and research. However you write up your dissertation, it
should include all three of these elements and should also make clear which is
which. A possible chapter by chapter
organization is as follows:
1)
Introduction
(includes brief statement of purpose and research questions)
2)
Conceptual
framework (theoretical and research literature in your area)
3)
Research
setting, participants, methods of data collection and data analysis
4)
Findings
5)
Findings
6)
Findings
7)
Conclusions
and implications
References
Appendices
See also the section on Dissertations in the GSE Student Handbook for further
information on guidelines and procedures.
Process for preparing
dissertation proposal or complete dissertation draft
There are three basic principles
for the most efficient process in working with your dissertation chair and
committee in writing your dissertation proposal and later your dissertation:
(1) Work with your chair first to produce
a complete, approved draft BEFORE you give it to your other committee
members. This allows for you to work
with a consistent set of feedback and is also respectful of the time and effort
of your committee members.
(2) Allow sufficient time for your chair (and
later your committee members) to read and comment on your work. It may be helpful to establish a pattern of
giving your chair a set of chapters (or sections of your proposal) while you
continue working on other chapters (or sections). Sufficient turnaround time usually means a
minimum of 4 weeks. As a rule, faculty
are not available for dissertation advising or reading during winter break (22
December - 15 January) nor during June,
July, and August.
(3) Allow sufficient time for yourself to
revise and incorporate the feedback from your chair and committee members. This is also usually a minimum of 4 weeks
for any substantial piece of writing, such as a proposal or a dissertation
chapter(s).
Timeline for submitting final draft and
graduating
The best approach is to project
backwards from your hoped-for graduation date, using various GSE and university
deadlines and draft review and revision turnaround times to construct a
feasible schedule. Here is a sample
timeline for graduation in May 2008.
18 May 2009 Graduation
24 April 2009 submit
final manuscript to Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
19 April 2009 submit
final manuscript to Graduate Group Chair in Education
19 March 2009 submit
final manuscript to Dissertation Chair
1 March 2009 Final
oral defense
15 December 2008 submit
full draft to Dissertation Committee (if Chair approves)
30 November 2008 submit
full revised draft to Dissertation Chair
31 October 2008 Chair
returns draft with comments
1 September
2008 submit
full draft to Dissertation Chair
(individual chapters will have already been submitted and commented on
during AY 2007-2008)
SELECTED REFERENCES ON
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH IN LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION
Lists are
organized rather arbitrarily in the following categories and posted on the
Blackboard course website:
Participant observation and fieldnotes
Interviewing and transcription
Data analysis and interpretation
Videotaping and microanalysis
(Critical) discourse analysis
Narrative inquiry/ oral history
Ethnographic narrative and writing up
qualitative research
Genres of
ethnographic research (in relation to language and education)
Critical ethnography
Teacher research / practitioner research
Overviews
and how-to’s
Ethnographic / qualitative research
methodology: Handbooks, overviews, how-to's
Culture (as what ethnographers study)
Reflexivity and emergence
Validity,
reliability, typicality, etc.
Research
ethics and IRB review