Conditional knowledge-based coherence strategy choice : engaging supervisory on-script corrective feedback in research writing

Research writing has been traditionally considered a challenging task for international Chinese Higher-Degree-by-Research (HDR) students, particularly at their novice stage as a writer. To help them conquer the challenges, supervisory on-script focused corrective feedback is a pedagogical method for providing models of conditional knowledge and helping produce coherent research writing. This supervisory pedagogy has been researched (Aitchison et al., 2012; Can & Walker, 2014). However, the pedagogical use of schemas and conditional knowledge as a facilitator for successful research writing are under researched with respect to international Chinese HDR students. This lack of knowledge limits the pedagogical possibilities for building international Chinese HDR students’ capacity for creating coherent research writing. Investigating the possibilities for improving their conditional knowledge and schemas can help address this challenge. This warrants a new approach to developing pedagogies that improve HDR students’ research writing, one that captures a dynamic view of the development of their conditional knowledge and schemas in a coherent hierarchy. In this doctoral study, the investigation focuses on the construction of conditional knowledge for creating micro-level coherence in research writing engaged by supervisory on-script corrective feedback. To this end, the potential for engaging conditional knowledge and schemas involves analysing evidence of international Chinese HDR students’ coherence strategy choices and their supervisor’s corresponding on-script corrective feedback. This study points to the need for pedagogies that accommodate text-based and reader-based coherence in HDR students’ research writing. The primary aims of the research reported in this thesis were to investigate the interrelationships among (a) international Chinese HDR students’ conditional knowledge used in creating the micro-level coherence; (b) their choices of the coherence strategies used; and (c) their supervisor’s modelling of appropriate choices of coherence strategies via on-script focused corrective feedback on these students’ draft research texts. The case study used interrelated approaches to address these aims. First, this study explored the appropriateness or otherwise of these HDR students’ use of coherence strategies through collecting and analysing evidence of the conditional knowledge they used in creating the micro-level coherence in their research writing. Second, a key pedagogy used to enhance their conditional knowledge for creating coherence, supervisory on-script focused corrective feedback, was developed. Through mapping, categorising and conceptualising the conditional knowledge required for creating the micro-level coherence in HDR students’ research writing, this study connects text-based and reader-based coherence. This study thereby develops a new supervision pedagogy which recognises and mobilises supervisor’s modelling of conditional knowledge for enhancing HDR students’ conditional knowledge in order to build HDR students’ capabilities for producing coherent research writing

ACCESSING REFERENTIAL INFORMATION DURING TEXT COMPOSITION : WHEN AND WHY ?

When composing a text, writers have to continually shift between content planning and content translating. This continuous shifting gives the writing activity its cyclic nature. The first section of this paper will analyse the writing process as a hierarchical cyclic activity. A methodological paradigm will be proposed for the investigation of the writing process. In the second section, we will partially present two experiments that were conducted independently, with this paradigm. Both give a coherent and interesting picture of what happens with content while the writer is planning. The characteristics of cycles depend both on the nature of the content information being recovered and on the complexity of the processes applied to this content

Collaborative design : managing task interdependencies and multiple perspectives

This paper focuses on two characteristics of collaborative design with respect to cooperative work: the importance of work interdependencies linked to the nature of design problems; and the fundamental function of design cooperative work arrangement which is the confrontation and combination of perspectives. These two intrinsic characteristics of the design work stress specific cooperative processes: coordination processes in order to manage task interdependencies, establishment of common ground and negotiation mechanisms in order to manage the integration of multiple perspectives in design

Walking the talk : an investigation of the pedagogical practices and discourses of an international broadcasting organisation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Adult Education, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Increasingly our knowledge of the world around us comes from the media, mediated by professional broadcasters. As the education and training of broadcasters has progressively become associated with educational institutions there has been more theorising about what broadcasters should know and how they should be educated, however the actual educational and training practices of broadcasting organisations remains under researched and under theorised. This research looks at the educational and training practices of an international broadcasting organisation and how they are sustained by the organisational ethos through a series of interviews with people directly involved in the organisation‟s training practices and an examination of a selection of the organisation‟s promotional and policy documents. From this comes a picture of an organisation committed to excellence and also a vision of broadcasting as an emancipatory activity. This commitment and vision is reflected in its inhouse training practices and also its media development work. The interviews with trainers, project managers, administrators and researchers reveal broadcasters who are pragmatic idealists and reflective practitioners and whose passion and commitment to the transformative powers of education and training are undeniable

A strategic approach to making sense of the “wicked” problem of ERM

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an approach to viewing the “wicked” problem of electronic records management (ERM), using the Cynefin framework, a sense-making tool. It re-conceptualises the ERM challenge by understanding the nature of the people issues. This supports decision making about the most appropriate tactics to adopt to effect positive change. Design/methodology/approach – Cynefin was used to synthesise qualitative data from an empirical research project that investigated strategies and tactics for improving ERM. Findings – ERM may be thought of as a dynamic, complex challenge but, viewed through the Cynefin framework, many issues are not complex; they are simple or complicated and can be addressed using best or good practice. The truly complex issues need a different approach, described as emergent practice. Cynefin provides a different lens through which to view, make sense of and re-perceive the ERM challenge and offers a strategic approach to accelerating change. Research limitations/implications – Since Cynefin has been applied to one data set, the findings are transferrable not generalisable. They, and/or the approach, can be used to further test the propositions. Practical implications – The resultant ERM framework provides a practical example for information and records managers to exploit or use as a starting point to explore the situation in particular organisational contexts. It could also be used in other practical, teaching and/or research-related records contexts. Originality/value – This paper provides a new strategic approach to addressing the wicked problem of ERM, which is applicable for any organisational context

Teaching the Prosodic Configuration of Lectures: Thematic Structure, Intonation, and L1 Interference

The lecture is the chosen speech genre in the academic world for the distribution of knowledge. Among other defining characteristics, lectures are organised along a particular thematic structure that signals to the audience how the information status and its progression is to be interpreted; and the instructions that this structuring provides are either accompanied or disambiguated through prosodic choices in the systems of tonality, tonicity and tone. This paper reviews some basic research on the prosodic configuration of lectures in General British and Riverplate Spanish, and reports a pilot experience in training Spanish-speaking teacher trainees in the production of typical prosodic patterns in the lecture genre, with a special focus on thematic structure, and with a secondary aim of reducing patterns of interference from L1 through the training of metaphonological awareness and self-regulatory skills

Proposing Thematic Diversity Reference Model for Essay Writing and Assessment

The tertiary level learners show inadequacy in thematic diversity in their essay writing in English, especially in non-English speaking countries. The learners’ effectiveness in developing the topic is unsatisfactory, affecting their creativity and performance and, finally, the evaluation of their essays. Though there are guidelines and textbooks for developing writing skills, inadequate training with a proper practice model reflects weak performance at the university level. Writers can develop a topic in diverse ways from multidisciplinary, spatial, and temporal perspectives. Therefore, a simplified guiding Model is proposed for facilitation. This paper describes the Model and application instruction in the pre-writing, writing and post-writing processes. It can be an efficient tool for students in their written course assignments, essay questions in examinations, and creative writing. In addition, it can be an effective tool for teachers to teach and assess expressive language skills like essay writing. A visually designed Thematic Diversity Reference Model for textual production and assessment developed in this research addresses this thematic non-diversity. The topic is approached at four levels: 1) Content, 2) Strategic, 3) Tactic, to 4) Logical Approaches. It stimulates feelings, ideas and activities in abstract and concrete ways and from different perspectives, as described in the schema theory of J. Piaget (1957) and the Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura (1999), thus diversifying and enhancing the theme or topic and the sub-themes consequently. The researchers analysed an essay written in English to explain its usefulness in writing and assessment. The analysis was dominantly qualitative. The application reveals a significant failure in all four approaches. It identifies the absence of multidisciplinary nature, critical, creative, temporal, spatial, and contextual expansion, statistical, ideological, experiential, and referential information, causal and logical relationships, cohesion, and coherence. Thus, the Model assists the writer and the reader, advocating pedagogical solutions in developing writing strategies for better performance and assessment. It applies to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary writings, social sciences, and humanities. KEYWORDS: Essay writing, Thematic diversity, Creativity; Evaluation; Reference mode

Women as social entrepreneurs in the hospitality and tourism industry: Does empowerment play a role?

This paper which is a work in progress presents a qualitative study exploring the nature, motivations and extent to which female entrepreneurs use their H&T businesses as platforms for engagement in various forms of social entrepreneurship (SE) leading to value creation, economic and community development. Although SE is seen as a key contributor to the creation and diversification of entrepreneurial activity, women empowerment and local economic development, there is limited research on the role of female H&T entrepreneurs in emerging non -western destinations. We focus on the following research questions: a) Can female entrepreneurs in H&T be considered as social entrepreneurs? b) How does the structure and organization of society shape the nature of female participation in SE? c) What are the challenges involved in mobilizing female entrepreneurs to effectively engage in SE? d) How does SE maximise value creation and higher levels of satisfaction for all participants? Concepts from women-owned H&T enterprises, SE and women empowerment are drawn upon. We argue that women are embedded in male dominated traditions/customs, community associations and government bureaucracies that may either empowered or dis-empower them. Using the case of Cameroon, we examine how embeddedness enhances the capacity of women to engage in SE in the H&T industry, thereby contributing to local economic development. Empirically we adopt a mixed methods approach using multiple case studies: a survey questionnaire, five focus groups meetings (two women -only, one male-only, and two mix of male and female entrepreneurs) and twenty-five in-depth interviews with selected female entrepreneurs (18), (non)governmental organisations (03) and beneficiaries (04) of social enterprise ventures between May 2014 and February 2015. The findings clarify the role of women in SE in H&T and policy implications for maximising social value creation through the participation of women in SE

Redesigning work organizations and technologies: experiences from European projects

Currently distributed business process (re) design (resulting in components of business networks) basically relies on technical criteria. And that are the main purposes of most research projects supported by EC. Through the process of building a European Research Area, this means a strong influence in the national research programmes. However it is generally accepted that it should also take into account social criteria and aspects such as the quality of working life, or participation in decision processes. Those were some of the objectives of projects in de 80s decade, and framed some of the main concepts and scientific approaches to work organisation. The democratic participation of network and organisations members in the design process is a critical success factor. This is not accepted by everyone, but is based in sufficient case studies. Nevertheless, in order to achieve an optimization that can satisfying the requirements of agility of a network of enterprises, more complex design methods must be developed. Thus, the support to the collaborative design of distributed work in a network of enterprises, through a concurrent approaching business processes, work organisation and task content is a key factor to achieve such purposes. Increasing needs in terms of amounts of information, agility, and support for collaboration without time and space constrains, imposes the use of a computer-based model.business process; networks; decision processes; collaborative design;