DEMYSTIFYING STUDENT-UNIVERSITY IDENTIFICATION AMONG VIRTUAL TEFL CANDIDATES: THE CASE OF IRAN

Student-University Identification (SUI) of virtual students in higher education is one area of identity that receives less attention. This study aimed to explore the SUI of a purposive sample of five virtual students studying Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at the Ph.D. level in Iran. Investigating SUI in higher education among virtual TEFL Ph.D. candidates potentially contributes to demystifying a complex relationship of factors, such as cultural experiences, linguistic backgrounds, and online environment challenges. Using phenomenology, the study investigated the identities of the participants by thematically analyzing semi-structured interview data. The findings revealed the participants’ various ways of identifying with a university, the subsequent consequences of identification, and the obstacles preventing them to develop SUI. The findings indicated that several factors at play are unique to doctoral candidates. The faculty prestige, research-based concerns, and nature of online media were identified to be crucial aspects of SUI for the TEFL Ph.D. students. Universities are thus advised to provide appropriate direction for virtual candidates. The study also found that some students perceived a lack of competence in TEFL, which, in turn, acted as a barrier to their SUI. To alleviate this problem, further research needs to identify what is lacking in teacher education university programs and what initiatives are required to improve TEFL students’ professional development and help them become confident English teachers

Say What?: Demystifying Discourse Analysis for Archaeology Students

Most archaeology instructors are eager to have their students appreciate that the study of the past is relevant to the present. In fact, most current introductory textbooks include a section, however brief it may be, on the socio-politics of archaeology. These discussions are usually framed around how ideas about the past have been used to justify abuse (e.g., Nazi archaeology to support an Aryan homeland), or how the involvement of descendant communities in research is now considered best practice in the field (e.g., NAGPRA, community based archaeology). One of the most powerful tools for understanding how what we say about the past makes a difference in the present is discourse analysis. Ultimately, archaeologists communicate their findings via discourses: in reports, articles, books, museum exhibits, documentaries, podcasts, websites, and even occasionally fictional writings. Discourse analysis inspired by the work of Michel Foucault can be used to empower students to analyze and draw their own conclusions regarding the statements they encounter about “how the past was” and “what that means” in any context. It does not pre-determine or preclude any particular interpretation of the past-present relationship, or theoretical orientation, but instead supports the development of critical thinking with an eye to the power ramifications of “who says what.

Student engagement in the educational interface: understanding the mechanisms of student success

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Higher Education Research & Development on 2016, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2017.1344197Publishe

Can High School Students Check the Veracity of Information About COVID-19? A Critical Media Literacy Proposal in ESL Classes

In a globalized and digital world, critical media literacy is imperative when selecting the content we consume amid countless offers.Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze how 3rd year high school students from an English as a Second Language class in Brazil check the veracity of information regarding COVID-19 available in a video and the resources they used when writing a journalistic article in pairs demystifying fake news.To this end, firstly students analyzed news about COVID-19 from international websites, secondly, they discussed aspects of a video that circulated widely in WhatsApp groups, and, finally, they produced journalistic articles demystifying fake news about COVID-19. The findings suggest a great capacity of students to justify their perceptions about what is fact and what is fake once they were provoked to do so, showing a high level of critical media literacy and news literacy

The co-production of historical knowledge: implications for the history of identities

This essay argues that understanding people’s lives, emotions and intellectual reasoning is crucial to exploring national identity and that ‘the co-production of historical knowledge’ provides an approach or methodology that allows for a deeper comprehension of people’s self-identities by encouraging a diverse range of people to participate in the research process. We argue that many academic historians have maintained an intellectual detachment between university history and public and community history, to the detriment of furthering historical knowledge. We argue for a blurring of the boundaries between university and communities in exploring modern British history, and especially the history of national identities. It includes extracts of writing from community partners and a brief photographic essay of projects related to exploring identities

Demystifying International Publications: A Structured Training Model to Facilitate UIN SU Lecturers

Writing scholarly papers that meet international standards, such as those indexed by Scopus, has been a source of concern for lecturers at Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatra Utara (UIN SU) Me-dan, thus, became one of the factors that prompted this study. Employing R and D approach through ADDIE model, this research involved 20 lecturers from different educational backgrounds, skills, and units that represented the demographic site of UIN SU Medan as the participants. The results showed that the effective steps of training program for UIN SU Medan lecturers include the followings: 1) Conducting the training program for at least seven meetings; 2) Going through all the six steps of training; 3) Identifying the targeted journals; 4) Going through peer re-viewing process; 5) Improving writing ability: and the last, 6) changing perception. Those findings concluded that an effective training model that is also suitable for the lecturers’ needs is a training model that is like the findings of this stud

Professional Discourse Community of Teachers through Critical Classroom Analysis within Teacher Education

AbstractThis paper explores teacher discourses and the intricacies of discourse communities of teachers. A modest attempt is made to link the discussion to professional discourse community, teacher education, and language for specific purposes (LSP). Through this grounded approach to critical classroom discourse analysis, I intend to share insights gathered from classrooms of teacher learners interacting among themselves and with their teacher educator in a teacher education course. Findings suggest that teacher education courses serve as a fertile ground to examine teacher discourse and understand discourse community of teachers. Such insights, I hope, are useful to LSP practitioners and educators in general

"Taking your place at the table": an autoethnographic study of chaplains' participation on an interdisciplinary research team.

BackgroundThere are many potential benefits to chaplaincy in transforming into a "research-informed" profession. However little is known or has been documented about the roles of chaplains on research teams and as researchers or about the effects of research engagement on chaplains themselves. This report describes the experience and impact of three chaplains, as well as tensions and challenges that arose, on one particular interdisciplinary team researching a spiritual assessment model in palliative care. Transcripts of our research team meetings, which included the three active chaplain researchers, as well as reflections of all the members of the research team provide the data for this descriptive, qualitative, autoethnographic analysis.MethodsThis autoethnographic project evolved from the parent study, entitled "Spiritual Assessment Intervention Model (AIM) in Outpatient Palliative Care Patients with Advanced Cancer." This project focused on the use of a well-developed model of spiritual care, the Spiritual Assessment and Intervention Model (Spiritual AIM). Transcripts of nine weekly team meetings for the parent study were reviewed. These parent study team meetings were attended by various disciplines and included open dialogue and intensive questions from non-chaplain team members to chaplains about their practices and Spiritual AIM. Individual notes (from reflexive memoing) and other reflections of team members were also reviewed for this report. The primary methodological framework for this paper, autoethnography, was not only used to describe the work of chaplains as researchers, but also to reflect on the process of researcher identity formation and offer personal insights regarding the challenges accompanying this process.ResultsThree major themes emerged from the autoethnographic analytic process: 1) chaplains' unique contributions to the research team; 2) the interplay between the chaplains' active research role and their work identities; and 3) tensions and challenges in being part of an interdisciplinary research team.ConclusionsDescribing the contributions and challenges of one interdisciplinary research team that included chaplains may help inform chaplains about the experience of participating in research. As an autoethnographic study, this work is not meant to offer generalizable results about all chaplains' experiences on research teams. Research teams that are interdisciplinary may mirror the richness and efficacy of clinical interdisciplinary teams. Further work is needed to better characterize both the promise and pitfalls of chaplains' participation on research teams

Giftedness as property: Troubling whiteness, wealth, and gifted education in the US

The purposes of this article are to illumine the racist genealogy of gifted education policies and practices in the United States, to demonstrate how deficit discourses continue today, and to provide personal examples from the field of how educators can begin to question the status quo, resist taken-for-granted assumptions, and alternatively make substantive changes at the local level. I also aim to demonstrate how giftedness is an example of whiteness as property, or unearned white privilege, that, unintentionally or not, maintains a social caste system in school

Black Women’s Perceptions of K-12 Experiences that Influenced their Preparation for College

This critical phenomenological inquiry explored the college preparation experiences of ten high-ability, Black, women who grew up in poverty to identify influences from various family, school, and community environments contributing to their college readiness. I used a conceptual framework informed by both Kimberlé Crenshaw’s (1991) intersectionality and Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory to frame this study and critically examine their responses. This specific paper reports 5 of the 9 themes that yielded from the inquiry: (1) prophetic excellence: family and friends support and expectations; (2) it takes a village: community culture and resources; (3) from chaperone to mentor: exploring the depth of K-12 academic relationships and experiences; (4) preparing for a home away from home: college exploration and preparation; (5) demystifying the process: I don\u27t know what I do or don\u27t need to know. Implications for anti-racist perspectives to inform the practices of counselor educators, school counselors, and school communities are discussed