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Book part
Publication date: 25 September 2020

Mark Carver

English language teacher preparation has a relatively short history in Scotland's universities. This chapter outlines some of the contributions made by Scottish institutions and…

Abstract

English language teacher preparation has a relatively short history in Scotland's universities. This chapter outlines some of the contributions made by Scottish institutions and academics to English language teaching globally, including during the very early stages of English becoming a global language. Commercial influences on English language teacher education are outlined as an explanation for why programmes diverged from Initial Teacher Education (ITE) provision from the 1960s, including pressure from short-course teacher education and rising precarity of English language teachers. This chapter concludes with some encouraging work from foreign language teaching and Gaelic-Medium instruction, showing how English language teacher education may be able to rebuild connections to ITE to engage with the contemporary linguistic diversity in Scotland's classrooms.

Article
Publication date: 24 August 2022

Suma Sumithran, Raqib Chowdhury and Melissa Barnes

Adult student identities within EAL (English as an Additional Language) classrooms have often been positioned as static, homogenised and exoticised within scholarly literature…

Abstract

Purpose

Adult student identities within EAL (English as an Additional Language) classrooms have often been positioned as static, homogenised and exoticised within scholarly literature. Within such positioning, teachers have embraced pedagogical practices which classify students by country of origin and represent student identities within binaries of Self and the Other, limiting these students' identity positionings for adoption within the EAL classroom. As a result, students are often rendered voiceless by essentialist discourses on culture and identity in the classroom that serve to replicate and reinforce dominant societal discourses and strengthen existing institutional power structures.

Design/methodology/approach

By drawing on a postcolonial theoretical framework comprising theories of race, identity, power, representation, synecdoche and Third Space, this paper interrogates current literature to understand the complex multidimensional and dynamic cultural identities of adult EAL students.

Findings

This paper reveals that adult EAL students are still being oversimplified within the classroom, not just disadvantaging students and institutions, but also hindering multicultural pedagogies.

Originality/value

This paper suggests that teachers require opportunities for critical reflection incorporated within a critical pedagogy in decolonised classrooms that can not only build respectful and equitable awareness of their students' cultural identities and educational and historical backgrounds but provide important implications for effective pedagogical practices.

Details

Qualitative Research Journal, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1443-9883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 September 2011

John Walker

The purpose of this paper is to develop an inventory of behaviours and attitudes expected of English language teaching (ELT) professionals in a services context.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop an inventory of behaviours and attitudes expected of English language teaching (ELT) professionals in a services context.

Design/methodology/approach

A two‐stage Delphi method using ELT expert panellists, comprising managers and owners from the ELT sector. Delphi is indicated for complex problems, where interpersonal interaction is impractical and domination of participants is undesirable. It is recommended for the exploration of interdisciplinary themes and the evaluation of professional practice. The theoretical scope comprised professionalism, ELT, and the role of teachers as service providers in a commercial context.

Findings

A framework of 50 standards in ten dimensions was developed. Honesty and integrity was considered the most important dimension for ELT professionals.

Research limitations/implications

The usual Delphi limitations apply, e.g. potential validity issues, unrepresentativeness, and participant attrition. The findings are not claimed as generalisible or prescriptive. Suggestions for future research include: the work, status and relevance of ELT professional associations; imperatives of private versus tertiary ELT providers; professional development, its frequency, availability and relevance, particularly in the ELT private sector; and commercial versus educational priorities in the ELT sector. The research could also be replicated with Delphic panels of English language teachers.

Practical implications

The standards framework is of practical use to ELT institutions and ELT professional associations, either to adopt whole, or employ as the basis for developing their own code of conduct.

Social implications

The standards framework will contribute to enhancing the quality of the service provision in ELT institutions operating in a cross‐cultural context, and will benefit teachers, students, managers, institutions, and the sector as a whole.

Originality/value

No such research has been reported to date in the literature.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 19 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 July 2021

Bao Trang Thi Nguyen, Stephen H. Moore and Vu Quynh Nhu Nguyen

This study focuses on Vietnamese international students who returned from their overseas doctoral education to home universities in Vietnam (henceforth Vietnamese overseas-trained…

Abstract

Purpose

This study focuses on Vietnamese international students who returned from their overseas doctoral education to home universities in Vietnam (henceforth Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees). The purpose is to explore the experience of these returnees “doing research” (i.e. being research active) when resuming a lecturing role at a Vietnamese regional university. In the context of research now receiving heightened attention in both the wider global higher education (HE) discourse and the Vietnamese HE sector, this study is timely and provides valuable insights.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 76 Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees from varied disciplinary backgrounds completed a questionnaire on their research motivation and their perceived constraints doing research. Eighteen subsequently took part in semi-structured interviews. The study draws on the notion of human agency from the sociocultural perspective to understand the coping strategies of the Vietnamese overseas-educated returnees in response to the challenges they encountered.

Findings

The results show that the returnees' motivations to conduct research varied, fuelled by passion, but constrained by multiple factors. Time constraints, heavy teaching loads, familial roles and lack of specialized equipment are key inhibiting factors in re-engaging in research for these returnees. Addressing them necessitated a great deal of readaptation, renegotiation and agentive resilience on the part of the returnees in employing different coping strategies to pursue research.

Practical implications

The paper argues for a subtle understanding of the returnees' experience of re-engaging in research that is both complex and contextual. Implications are drawn for research development in the regional Vietnamese HE context and perhaps in other similar settings.

Originality/value

There is little empirical knowledge about how Vietnamese returned graduates – university lecturers – continue doing research after their return. Also underexplored in global discourse is research on foreign-educated returnees doing research, while they are an important source of human resources. The present study, therefore, fills these research gaps.

Details

International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, vol. 23 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2396-7404

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 8 December 2023

Sue Kyung Kim

A narrative inquiry was conducted to explore the complexities of learning English and Korean as subject matter in cross-cultural contexts in contributing to teacher identity, with…

Abstract

A narrative inquiry was conducted to explore the complexities of learning English and Korean as subject matter in cross-cultural contexts in contributing to teacher identity, with possible tensions of identity teachers experience as ethnic Koreans teaching at an international school in Korea that promotes non-Korean, international education in English as alanguage of inclusion” and instruction. With expansions of international schools in South Korea, also growing are numbers of Korean teachers teaching at such schools as returnees, individuals with cross-cultural experience. Stories of one Korean language and literature teacher with international schooling experience were examined.

While identifying the practical benefits of acquiring English, she expresses her concern for the presumed loss of Korean as a product of the prioritized use of English on campus. Equally recognized are the diverse opportunities not commonly available at Korean public schools that the participant upholds from her own experience. She acknowledged that her opportunities for the development of English language skills to a high level of proficiency through international education is not commonly accessible to all students in the Korean public school system. She also considered possible impacts associated with prioritizing the use of English over Korean in her international education experience, including their influence on: her sense of identity as a teacher and as Korean; her cultural knowledge as Korean; and her teacher knowledge as she supports her students' learning of English as subject matter in ways that might, in turn, also impact their sense of identity as Korean.

Details

Smudging Composition Lines of Identity and Teacher Knowledge
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-742-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 February 2016

Darren A. Bryant

In 1997, Joseph Boyle critiqued the Hong Kong Government’s policy of recruiting native-speaking teachers (NSTs) of English into secondary schools. Boyle examined NSTs from a

Abstract

Purpose

In 1997, Joseph Boyle critiqued the Hong Kong Government’s policy of recruiting native-speaking teachers (NSTs) of English into secondary schools. Boyle examined NSTs from a post-colonial and socio-linguistic stance. He concluded that the scheme was “largely ineffective” and that efforts to expand the scheme would likely fail due to the government’s implicit lack of trust in the capacities of non-native-speaking teachers’ (NNSTs) of English. However, almost two decades later the scheme has expanded across the primary and secondary sectors. The purpose of this paper is to explore how changing educational contexts and reform efforts have influenced conceptions of NSTs as articulated in Hong Kong policy.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is approached retrospectively through an interpretivist paradigm, analysing policy documents, implementation materials, evaluation reports, and interview transcripts. Over 41 scheme stakeholders participated in the interviews, inclusive of policy makers, government officials, academics, teacher educators, principals and teachers, who were active over different phases of the scheme.

Findings

The intended role and perceived competencies of the NSTs have been impacted by imported education reforms leading to new rationales for maintaining and expanding NST deployment. These shifts, however, lead to new tensions among idealised images of NSTs, their capacities, and the aims of policy makers and scheme implementers.

Originality/value

The value of this paper lies in its reconsideration of the role of NSTs in light of educational reform efforts influenced by global change. This perspective varies from conventional critiques that focus on NSTs’ and NNSTs’ differing capacities as English language teachers by considering the impact of historic developments on later policies, and the tendency of policy makers to legitimise reform by importing international innovations. Second, it demonstrates how idealised images of NSTs simultaneously justify policies and pose challenges to effective implementation.

Details

International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2396-7404

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 November 2014

Robert Detmering, Anna Marie Johnson, Claudene Sproles, Samantha McClellan and Rosalinda Hernandez Linares

– The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

Design/methodology/approach

Introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2013.

Findings

Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

Originality/value

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 42 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 June 2015

Molly McHarg

This study examines English faculty perceptions of the Writing Center at American Design University in Qatar (ADU-Q) through a social capital analysis. This was part of a larger…

Abstract

This study examines English faculty perceptions of the Writing Center at American Design University in Qatar (ADU-Q) through a social capital analysis. This was part of a larger study that took a sociocultural approach to English faculty perceptions of writing center work at ADU-Q. One of the emergent themes in that study was the lack of students’ language skill transfer from English courses to their disciplines. This finding has critical implications for the development of writing center and writing-across-the-disciplines work by uniting the fields of Composition, TESOL, and writing center research.

Details

Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2077-5504

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2019

Alan Cheung, Xin Guo, Xiaorui Wang and Zhuang Miao

The purpose of this paper is to examine the key factors affecting Mainland Chinese students pursuing a Master of Education degree in Hong Kong on their study abroad decision and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the key factors affecting Mainland Chinese students pursuing a Master of Education degree in Hong Kong on their study abroad decision and return intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study employed a mixed-methods approach to investigate factors that affect Mainland Chinese students pursuing MEd degrees in Hong Kong. Participants were first invited to fill out a questionnaire. After collecting and analyzing the survey data, in-depth interviews with a selected group of students were carried out by the research team to obtain useful qualitative data to triangulate the survey findings. A purposeful and convenience sampling method, carried out through the personal network of the research team, was used to recruit MEd Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong to participate in the current study.

Findings

The findings provided compelling evidence that Hong Kong was an attractive study destination to this particular group of MEd Chinese students. The findings also indicated that academic factors were more important than social, cultural and economic factors when it came to choosing their study destination. In contrast to previous studies, participants expressed a much stronger desire to return home upon graduation. The three most influential predictors of their decision to return were the lack of a Hong Kong teaching certificate (r=+0.36), the opportunity to contribute to their hometown (r=+0.31) and the inclination to be closer to family and friends (r=+0.20).

Originality/value

While a number of studies have been carried out to study why Mainland Chinese students chose Hong Kong as their study destination to pursue their teacher training degree, none of these studies focused exclusively on fee-paying MEd Chinese students. Hong Kong is facing keen competition from both traditional host countries and emerging host countries to recruit students from Mainland China. It is therefore crucial to understand the needs of these Mainland Chinese students in a competitive, globalized, tertiary education market, as the satisfaction of students, in the form of positive discussion among alumni, promotes a university’s reputation and sustains its advantage in attracting students.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 33 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 August 2022

Corinna Di Niro and Jeanne-Marie Viljoen

This chapter describes a case study of a multidisciplinary approach to the complex social issue of teaching English to multilingual tertiary students in a pluralistic context. It

Abstract

This chapter describes a case study of a multidisciplinary approach to the complex social issue of teaching English to multilingual tertiary students in a pluralistic context. It does this by advancing an innovative multilingual pedagogy combining specific aspects of Commedia dell’Arte (Di Niro) and translanguaging (Viljoen) to cross boundaries between languages and cultures for effectively teaching. This is achieved through an examination of Di Niro’s course structure, written reflections and observations of teaching students “English for Business Studies” at the University of South Australia (UniSA). Reflections are arranged and interpreted around three themes: multilingualism, game play, and physicality/embodied learning. Following O’Neill and Viljoen (2021, p. 1), the authors argue that “such reflection is not simply contemplative, but involves dynamic, transforming and reflexive processes of accessing” the lived-experience of language and culture of the teacher and students in an engaged and responsive learning dialogue. Commedia dell’Arte includes multilingualism, improvisation, gesture, role-play and extending students to develop socio-political dialogue. Translanguaging involves foregrounding and affirming the home language of multilingual students of English while also developing their English. Blending these methodologies and methods enables the authors to simultaneously address practical and theoretical aspects of teaching in a multilingual classroom.

Details

Changing the Conventional University Classroom
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-261-1

Keywords

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