9 research outputs found

    Learner autonomy: The complexity of control‐shift

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    It is generally held that constructing learner autonomy (LA) requires a pedagogical shift of control from teachers to students. It is also understood that the development of learner autonomy relates largely to teacher autonomy (TA), which requires school managers to relinquish some degree of control to teachers. However, from a socio‐political perspective, the construct of autonomy is a right also extended to educational managers (MA). Thus, a problem arises: how can the three levels of controlshifts co‐exist and survive in harmony, and ideally, thrive each in its own way? Based on a recent case study, this paper aims to explore the complexity of the dynamic interaction between these three types of autonomy within an educational hierarchy. The study was conducted in a private Chinese secondary school which was promoting whole‐person development through a comprehensive innovation project involving all its academic staff members. The participants comprised nine English teachers, the principal, and the school’s executive director. Data collection was conducted through interviews, classroom observations followed by post‐lesson discussions, and the researcher’s field notes. Specifically, three questions were addressed in this paper focusing on managers’ perceptions of LA, a classroom instruction model intended to cultivate LA, and an in‐house professional development scheme to facilitate TA, all of which impacted on teachers’ professional decision‐making. The findings display a complex picture of these issues, and imply the importance of a genuine shared understanding of the nature of autonomy and the need to carefully ensure the optimal balance among the three types of autonomy in the design and implementation of curriculum innovations

    The Communication Methods in English Classroom for Indonesian Deaf Students

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    Deaf students can only use their visual to acquire their first language namely sign language. Mostly hearing people do not understand sign language therefore deaf students use lip-reading to communicate with them. However, lip-reading especially in foreign language not always works because some phonemes are not visible in the lips. This study investigates the communication method of deaf students in learning English as foreign language. It observes the classroom interaction in an Indonesian special school for deaf students. The result shows that deaf students use four communication methods such as sign language, lip-reading, finger-spelling, and Tadoma. The result also shows that deaf students understand words or utterances which are familiar for them. However, deaf students find difficulties in pronouncing words or utterances. They tend to pronounce in Bahasa Indonesia. Therefore, it is recommended that teacher and hearing parents of deaf child must update with the latest technology or material for deaf students learning

    Chinese elements : a bridge of the integration between Chinese -English translation and linguaculture transnational mobility

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    [Abstract] As the popularity of Chinese elements in the innovation of the translation part in Chinese CET, we realized that Chinese elements have become a bridge between linguaculture transnational mobility and Chinese-English translation.So, Chinese students translation skills should be critically improved; for example, on their understanding about Chinese culture, especially the meaning of Chinese culture. Five important secrets of skillful translation are introduced to improve students’ translation skills

    The interactive ecology of construal in gesture: a microethnographic analysis of peer learning at an EMI university in China

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    Depictive manual gestures do not appear in isolation, but are motivated by a complex of experiential knowledge, communicative goals, and contextual-environmental factors (Harrison 2018; Kendon 2004; MĂŒller 2014; Streeck 1993, 1994, 2009b). However, little is known about the incremental, moment-by-moment formulation of depictions in elaborate sequences of talk. Furthermore, questions endure about depiction as a learning resource within the contingent interactivity of the foreign language academic classroom. This study explores these questions in the context of subject-related student talk at a Sino-foreign university in China by focusing on how gesturers build expositions through intercorporeal and intersubjective sense making (cf. Merleau-Ponty 1945/2012). Drawing on empirical material from the corpus of Chinese Academic Written and Spoken English (CAWSE), I aim to contribute greater understanding of the intersubjective ecology of depictive gesturing. The study builds on previous research on depictive gestures in the classroom (e.g. Rosborough 2014; Roth & Lawless 2002) by focusing on sequences of gesturing within two distinct classroom tasks: i) dialogic explanations of complex systems and ii) interactional multi-party group discussions. By converging theories of intersubjectivity drawing on Cognitive Grammar (e.g. Langacker 2008; Blomberg & Zlatev 2014) and Conversation Analysis (Heritage & Atkinson 1984; Schegloff 1992), I use microethnography for the investigation of gesture as a cognitive practice (Streeck 2009b; cf. Erickson 1995; Streeck & Mehus 2005). The analysis engages concepts in phenomenology, ecological cognition and enactivism in order to illustrate the publicly displayable achievement of enactive construal in spoken exposition. These analyses expose the ways that speakers depict for intersubjective visualization of the topic-at-hand, and anticipate and react to affordances that occur within the landscape of interaction. Speakers design their depictions, by manipulating construal dimensions in three ways: i) depictions are integrated into the exposition for projecting and delimiting epistemic arenas where construal relations are tailored for specific structural aspects of the depictions, ii) depictions invite participatory frameworks for co-analysis of the topic-at-hand, and iii) speakers refashion their depictions to anticipate previous trouble. Furthermore, the analysis of the interactional order of the tasks illustrates the intercorporeality, the pre-reflective disposition towards sense-making, of construal in the moment-by-moment construction of academic classroom talk. This study has implications that problematize the notion of the body as a communicative resource by obscuring the notions of planning and strategy. Overall, the analysis shows that explanations and discussions involve finely grained attenuation of the corporeal dimensions of spoken language
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