Description:
The English language has become a global language, a development which has influenced English language teaching and learning throughout the world. This influence has occurred more impressively in China than in other parts of the world as a result of the breathtaking pace at which China has integrated with global economies. Increasing industrial, economic and multicultural development has spurred language educators in China to question the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum in relation to the role of English, particularly in secondary schools. In this paper we present a brief review of the role of English as a global language in the Chinese context, a context which is now to be seen as a global one. The new curriculum has been progressively rolled out in Chinese schools since 2001. We highlight the redefinition of the role of English in the new EFL curriculum in Chinese secondary schools in particular and the significance of this as it presents new features of the new EFL curriculum as part of a developing research field, based on a comparison with the 1993 EFL curriculum. In this study, we focus on policy statements and curriculum documents as well as published previous research in order to understand the redefining of the role of English as a foreign language in the new EFL curriculum.
Description:
This article describes Indigenous Australian languages as having a history of pejoration dating from colonial times, which has masked the richness and complexity of mother tongues (and more recently developed kriols) of large numbers of Indigenous Australians.The paper rejects deficit theory representations of these languages as being inferior to imported dialects of English and explains how language issues embedded in teaching practices have served to restrict Indigenous Australian access to cultural capital most valued in modern socio-economic systems.We go on to describe ways in which alternative perspectives where acknowledgment of rich,complex and challenging features of Indigenous Australian languages may be used by educators as empowering resources for teacher education and teaching in schools. Our paper stresses the urgency of establishing frameworks for language success within which to develop other successful learning outcomes of Indigenous Australians.
Description:
This article describes Indigenous Australian languages as having a history of pejoration dating from colonial times, which has masked the richness and complexity of mother tongues (and more recently developed kriols) of large numbers of Indigenous Australians.The paper rejects deficit theory representations of these languages as being inferior to imported dialects of English and explains how language issues embedded in teaching practices have served to restrict Indigenous Australian access to cultural capital most valued in modern socio-economic systems.We go on to describe ways in which alternative perspectives where acknowledgment of rich,complex and challenging features of Indigenous Australian languages may be used by educators as empowering resources for teacher education and teaching in schools. Our paper stresses the urgency of establishing frameworks for language success within which to develop other successful learning outcomes of Indigenous Australians.
Description:
This paper explores features of secondary school English as Second Language textbooks in use in China. It examines a number of textbooks in relation to surface and deep learning approaches,particularly as these relate to western constructs of Chinese learners.
Description:
This paper explores features of secondary school English as Second Language textbooks in use in China. It examines a number of textbooks in relation to surface and deep learning approaches,particularly as these relate to western constructs of Chinese learners.
Description:
In this paper we explore ways in which adults engage children's and young adult books in primary and secondary schools in relation to Bakhtin's (1981) posited chronotope. We base our discussion on an analysis of experienced practising teachers' own engagement with books that are offered to children and young adults as part of teachers' didactic activities in developing literacy skills and literature appreciation in classrooms, drawing on the concept of the chronotope as going beyond the didactic to embrace the artistic and cultural in children's responses to their reading and writing. The suggestive possibilities of the chronotope as an organising feature of teaching reading and writing in a number of genres and production of text types, affords new ways of approaching reading by teachers, at the same time as it invites these teachers to examine their own responses to the literature that they engage in the process. The concept of the chronotope opens up spaces for literary and pedagogical responses that derive from children's own experience of their world, but we argue that teacher responses that are restricted by their own views of the world may inhibit a full exploration by children of the possibilities that the books that they encounter as didactically bound and culturally limiting.
Description:
In this paper we explore ways in which adults engage children's and young adult books in primary and secondary schools in relation to Bakhtin's (1981) posited chronotope. We base our discussion on an analysis of experienced practising teachers' own engagement with books that are offered to children and young adults as part of teachers' didactic activities in developing literacy skills and literature appreciation in classrooms, drawing on the concept of the chronotope as going beyond the didactic to embrace the artistic and cultural in children's responses to their reading and writing. The suggestive possibilities of the chronotope as an organising feature of teaching reading and writing in a number of genres and production of text types, affords new ways of approaching reading by teachers, at the same time as it invites these teachers to examine their own responses to the literature that they engage in the process. The concept of the chronotope opens up spaces for literary and pedagogical responses that derive from children's own experience of their world, but we argue that teacher responses that are restricted by their own views of the world may inhibit a full exploration by children of the possibilities that the books that they encounter as didactically bound and culturally limiting.
Description:
This article explores community (primary) school teacher education in the subject, English, at a Papua New Guinea (PNG) teachers' college as manifested in end-of-year English lessons in practicum rounds of pre-service community school teachers. English is the official language overlaid on 700 indigenous languages in this country where reconstructionism informs policy decisions. Given this, the importance of success in English in schools is not to be underestimated. The research focuses on the implementation the knowledge, skills, strategies and materials acquired by pre-service English teachers in a coastal province in PNG in the context of a number of public statements on educational policy and practice. It examines the impact of these as indicated in lesson plans and supervisors' reports
Description:
This paper investigates undergraduates' innovative reflection-as a scripted and performed comedy routine in their School Revue-on their introduction as pre-service teachers (PSTs) to the discourses of Information Technologies (ITs) in teaching in schools. It is a small case study that we present here, mondful of the lack of generalisability that this presents, but we feel that it does lend itself to a close examination of a wide array of issues, experiences and outcomes in this small group that wrote and implemented the sketch in the Revue. Given the primacy of the role of language in any educational undertaking, it is perhaps not surprising that the focus of this sketch is on language, particularly as it is received by students, in that group of novice IT for Education students.
Description:
This paper investigates undergraduates' innovative reflection-as a scripted and performed comedy routine in their School Revue-on their introduction as pre-service teachers (PSTs) to the discourses of Information Technologies (ITs) in teaching in schools. It is a small case study that we present here, mondful of the lack of generalisability that this presents, but we feel that it does lend itself to a close examination of a wide array of issues, experiences and outcomes in this small group that wrote and implemented the sketch in the Revue. Given the primacy of the role of language in any educational undertaking, it is perhaps not surprising that the focus of this sketch is on language, particularly as it is received by students, in that group of novice IT for Education students.
Description:
Global student mobility has placed pressure on western universities to recruit students from non-western, non-English-speaking backgrounds. In this article, we argue that language requirements such as the International English Language Testing System bands are underpinned by discourses that privilege western modes of thought. We go on to argue that English language proficiency underpins discourses of deficit that construct non-western students as less able to undertake research programmes. In exploring pedagogical possibilities, we draw on a published story of an international higher degree research student, called Mei, at an Australian university. We question the idea that a research higher degree is more about linguistic skills than it is about research skills, and we argue that rigour, scholarship, and new knowledge constitute the assessable factors in what international higher degree research students produce.
Description:
Ancient social systems have exhibited constructs of scholarships based on social configurations and requirements that have involved tribal, temple, village or palace elders teaching and developing their apprentices using oral communication such as storytelling, recitation of recipes, formulas and chants, plus work in the field itself as young people developed as midwives, shamans, carpenters, and so on. While writing is a mighty technological achievement of some 5,000 years ago, perhaps even mightier is that of the printing press about 500 years ago. It is generally held to be the development that marked the end of Medieaval times, and has had an even more profound an effect than the first moon landing, so much did it shake the foundations of society. For one thing, the same elders entrusted with the education of the young were able to use print as part of their education protocols. This in itself enabled a shift in constructs of scholarship, as it was possible to record in print what had formerly been kept in memory. The possibilities that emerged were those of teaching learners how to develop knowledge from information, and not rely on information alone. Such possibilities have not really been taken up until fairly recent times. Emerging new paradigms present scholarship in the light of information work whose dependence on information storage systems has already transformed the relationship between scholarship and libraries to a stage where the dominant partner is the library, scholarship becoming marginalised in the so-called information age. Such a sea change requires a major adjustment on the part of both partners in what has for so long been a most productive relationship. To be able to understand the magnitude and order of the change, it is necessary to take a close look at what has underpinned it for so long. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Description:
Ancient social systems have exhibited constructs of scholarships based on social configurations and requirements that have involved tribal, temple, village or palace elders teaching and developing their apprentices using oral communication such as storytelling, recitation of recipes, formulas and chants, plus work in the field itself as young people developed as midwives, shamans, carpenters, and so on. While writing is a mighty technological achievement of some 5,000 years ago, perhaps even mightier is that of the printing press about 500 years ago. It is generally held to be the development that marked the end of Medieaval times, and has had an even more profound an effect than the first moon landing, so much did it shake the foundations of society. For one thing, the same elders entrusted with the education of the young were able to use print as part of their education protocols. This in itself enabled a shift in constructs of scholarship, as it was possible to record in print what had formerly been kept in memory. The possibilities that emerged were those of teaching learners how to develop knowledge from information, and not rely on information alone. Such possibilities have not really been taken up until fairly recent times. Emerging new paradigms present scholarship in the light of information work whose dependence on information storage systems has already transformed the relationship between scholarship and libraries to a stage where the dominant partner is the library, scholarship becoming marginalised in the so-called information age. Such a sea change requires a major adjustment on the part of both partners in what has for so long been a most productive relationship. To be able to understand the magnitude and order of the change, it is necessary to take a close look at what has underpinned it for so long. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Description:
In this paper we focus on the production of a local Catholic primary school Annual Concert by Grade 3-4 students, which took as its theme, Wauthaurong Heritage in the Region. The school approached the local University's School of Education to suggest one of its Bachelor of Education students who might be willing to work with the school on this production. With this initiative, we were presented with the basis for a community-based project which would incorporate the local Aboriginal Collective, a private Catholic primary school, and a School of Education within the University of the city in the form of the annual school concert. Combining the knowledge, expertise and experience from each of these organisations to deal with a variety of issues involved in education and community perceptions, the project was set to explore the ways in which these were to be dealt with.
Description:
The chronotope is suggested as going beyond the didactic to embrace the artistic and cultural in children's responses to their reading and writing. The essentially solipsistic concerns of young children and young adults in schools may be engaged using the suggestive possibilities of the chronotope as an organising feature of teaching reading and writing in a number of genres and production of text types, affording new ways of approaching reading and writing in classrooms. The chronotope opens up spaces for literary and pedagogical responses that takes teachers and students beyond the traditional and conventional referents of characterisation, plot, theme, setting, style, and so on. While this paper's focus is on literature designed for Australian children and young adults, the concepts may be applied more generally in relation to literature from within other cultures as well.
Description:
The chronotope is suggested as going beyond the didactic to embrace the artistic and cultural in children's responses to their reading and writing. The essentially solipsistic concerns of young children and young adults in schools may be engaged using the suggestive possibilities of the chronotope as an organising feature of teaching reading and writing in a number of genres and production of text types, affording new ways of approaching reading and writing in classrooms. The chronotope opens up spaces for literary and pedagogical responses that takes teachers and students beyond the traditional and conventional referents of characterisation, plot, theme, setting, style, and so on. While this paper's focus is on literature designed for Australian children and young adults, the concepts may be applied more generally in relation to literature from within other cultures as well.
Description:
An age characterised by the sort of 'manufactured uncertainty' identified by Giddens (1994) throws up for scrutiny any number of taken-for-granted assumptions regarding professional practice experience in the Education field. This paper explores the suggestive possibilities of discourses of pre-service teacher practica in terms of naming, positioning and examination of taken-for-granted aspects of teacher education as they present at a regional university in Victoria, Australia. The University of Ballarat has introduced a new P-10 teacher education course. In the second year of its progress, traditional aspects of paid supervisory and assessment roles of practising teachers in relation to student teachers have been the focus of attention and activity based on reconfigured foci on the roles of both practising teachers and undergraduate students. One such focus is on what Schön (1987) describes as 'indeterminate zones of practice', and the result has been a research program exploring those zones in terms of mentorship in relation to mandated supervision and assessment requirements for graduate registration. The project is action-research based, with teacher, student, academic and semi-academic/teacher roles considered in the light of suggestive possibilities of mentorship and reflective practices as transformative possibilities in relation to roles associated with these.
Description:
This paper focuses on the registration of supervisors as a crucial element in constructs and practices of postgraduate studies in Australian universities. It examines two processes in a number of Australian universities postgraduate divisions' practices in compilation of postgraduate supervisor registers-how people get onto the register, and how people get off it. It takes issue with the reliance on custom and tradition as a dominant practice of registration and/or deregistration for supervision of postgraduate research studies. It suggests a model of supervisor registration and deregistration as intentional and systematic intervention, based on literature deriving from research in postgraduate supervision which acknowledges the problematic natures of relationships between teaching, learning and knowledge production. In doing so, it examines issues of discursive practice and the problematic nature of power differentials in supervisor/supervisee relationships and the possibilities presented by both registration and deregistration for such relationships.
Description:
This paper focuses on the registration of supervisors as a crucial element in constructs and practices of postgraduate studies in Australian universities. It examines two processes in a number of Australian universities postgraduate divisions' practices in compilation of postgraduate supervisor registers-how people get onto the register, and how people get off it. It takes issue with the reliance on custom and tradition as a dominant practice of registration and/or deregistration for supervision of postgraduate research studies. It suggests a model of supervisor registration and deregistration as intentional and systematic intervention, based on literature deriving from research in postgraduate supervision which acknowledges the problematic natures of relationships between teaching, learning and knowledge production. In doing so, it examines issues of discursive practice and the problematic nature of power differentials in supervisor/supervisee relationships and the possibilities presented by both registration and deregistration for such relationships.
Description:
Regardless of the literacy competencies that are basic to the mechanics of reading, there is a much larger and richer view of reading that goes well beyond such competencies. There are whole worlds of literature to explore as well, and it can be a most satisfying experience for adults and children as they explore them together. The 21st Century has emerged from a long tradition of culturally satisfying and spiritually delighting engagement with the language arts that are embodied in literature, and not just literacy. This paper explores some of those things from our more ancient pasts, and examines their relevance for adults, particularly parents and teachers, and children in the present age in the area of literature. In doing so, it goes beyond concepts of literacy, exploring notions of literature.
Description:
Regardless of the literacy competencies that are basic to the mechanics of reading, there is a much larger and richer view of reading that goes well beyond such competencies. There are whole worlds of literature to explore as well, and it can be a most satisfying experience for adults and children as they explore them together. The 21st Century has emerged from a long tradition of culturally satisfying and spiritually delighting engagement with the language arts that are embodied in literature, and not just literacy. This paper explores some of those things from our more ancient pasts, and examines their relevance for adults, particularly parents and teachers, and children in the present age in the area of literature. In doing so, it goes beyond concepts of literacy, exploring notions of literature.