Learning to Live in a Different Culture: A Phenomenographic Study of the Adaptation Experiences of Cultural-immersion Study-abroad Sojourners

This thesis investigates the learning required for study abroad sojourners to live effectively inside another culture. To live effectively in another culture, the research participants tracked in this thesis had to learn the knowledge, skills, attitudes and awareness needed to adapt to different ways of doing things. Cultural knowledge and skills, along with appropriate attitudes and awareness, constitute the four elements of Intercultural Competence (IcC) (Byram, 1997; Deardorff, 2006; Fantini, 2000; Sercu, 2005a). On entry into their host community, sojourners began to interact with symbols (the products and visible elements or observable realities of a culture [Shaules, 2007; Trompenaars & Hampden- Turner, 1998]) and rituals (a culture’s ways of doing things: their practices) of daily life. Through internalisation of the perceptions of their interaction experiences, they formed understandings to create meaning. Sojourners needed to reshape their long-held cultural understandings to accommodate the meanings of the different culture in which they were immersed. This involved adjustment difficulties for some sojourners, and they resisted some aspects of adjustment to cultural practices. The internalisation process was theorised through symbolic interactionism (SI) (Blumer, 1969/1986; Prus, 1996; Stryker & Vryan, 2003) and examined through phenomenography. Noteworthy is that participants’ recorded their experiences and the perceptions of those experiences immediately, or soon after, an incident occurred. The recorded experiences formed the primary corpus of texts that were analysed, and were supported by an end-of-sojourn interview. Also significant was the adoption of symbolic interactionism which, framed how participants experiences were understood. As the methodological approach, phenomenography enables the analysis of experiences themselves rather than the phenomenon. Phenomenography and its associated variation theory specifically studies the variation in perceptions of, and the ways of understanding experiences (Berglund, 2005; Berglund, personal communication, 2014; Pang, 2003). Through examining the variations in perceptions and subsequent understanding of experiences over a period of time, the researcher analysed the learning of the IcC required for effective adaptation to a host community. The findings are presented as a set of ‘categories of description’ summarising the key concepts in terms of what was learned in each category, and how it was learned (Berglund, 2005; Marton & Booth, 1997). Extensive data was received from 21 participants in varying amounts. Ten phenomenographic categories of description were identified from the data: 1. Learning to adapt to the community’s sights and sounds; 2. Learning to adapt to common everyday community practices, 3. Learning to adapt to greeting rituals; 4. Learning to adapt to food and rituals associated with food and eating; 5. Learning to adapt to differences in orientations to time; 6. Learning to use the local language; 7. Learning to build and adapt to local social networks; 8. Learning to cope with adaptation stresses and overcome culture shock; 9. Learning to adjust to the education and schooling system; and 10. Learning to adapt to different values and beliefs at a more implicit level and to maintain relationships The findings show that all research participants reached advanced levels of adaptation in some categories. In the remaining categories, research participants reached varying levels of acceptance of and/or adaptation to different aspects of host community life. Some participants merely reached a level of tolerance in some categories and in a few cases, resistance remained. It was thus concluded that IcC learning is not a general continuum as depicted in some key literature (for example Bennett, 1993) but rather varies according to values within specific ‘dimensions of culture’ (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005; Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998. See also Shaules, 2007). It is anticipated that future study-abroad programmes, and sojourners themselves will benefit from this research, which provides suggestions for the development of techniques and strategies that can be developed to help sojourners to learn IcC during their study-abroad sojourns. Such techniques include a process model for experiential learning of IcC

The stakeholder value and pedagogical validity of industry certification

In December 2004, at the SoDIS® (Software Development Impact Statements) symposium in Auckland, an industry certification as a method of credentialing teachers and analysis of SoDIS was mooted. SoDIS, a process of ethics-based risk assessment and analysis of downstream risk to project and software stakeholders, including the public, is currently in the process of progressing from prototype to commercial product. Certification was proposed to ensure the integrity of the process and the quality of service to stakeholders.Certification sponsored by industry, commercial organisation, or professional association (collectively referred to as industry certification, or certification) has been a form of credentialing for over half a century. Industry certification was adopted by the IT industry when Novell, Inc. began testing and certifying IT industry and IT network professionals in 1986 (Cosgrove, 2004; Novell, 1996). Global certification testing centres were established in 1990 by Drake International (now Thomson Prometric) (Foster, 2005).During the 1990s, industry certification became a veritable juggernaut: a "multi-billion dollar business" (Cosgrove, 2004, p. 486), an industry that has arisen in its own right (Adelman, 2000) and driven by several dynamics (Hitchcock, 2005). In 2000 there were over 300 discrete IT certifications with approximately 1.6 million individuals holding approximately 2.4 million IT certifications (Aldelman, 2000). The total number of available certifications is impossible to quantify (Knapp & Gallery, 2003). Many academic institutions both at tertiary and secondary level are integrating industry certification, especially IT certification, into their curricula.Is industry certification, however, a pedagogically robust form of credentialing? Does it have value to its stakeholders? Is it an appropriate form of credentialing for the SoDIS process? This research, using both Phenomenography and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a joint methodology, focuses on the experiences of actors with the phenomenon of industry certification and extracts both the essence of the understanding and perceptions of the value and validity of industry certification, and the essence of industry certification itself.Due to the vast amount of literature found describing industry actors' perceptions of and experiences within the phenomenon, the research is predominantly literature-based. Further data was collected from interviews with a small, purposive sample of industry certification holders and employers, with the research further informed by my own experiences within the domain which is the focus of the research. The methodology paradigm is interpretive: the research aims to interpret the social construction that is the phenomenon of industry certification.While this research does not attempt to single out specific industry certifications to determine their value or pedagogical robustness, the findings suggest that, in general, well designed and well administered certifications with integrity and rigour of assessment processes, are indeed pedagogically sound, with significant value. The research identifies both benefit and criticism elements of typical certifications, along with elements of the various certification programmes categorised into standard (typical), and more rigorous (less typical) certification programmes.The research develops and presents a paradigm for building an appropriate vendor specific or vendor neutral certification programme that is pedagogically sound with value for its stakeholders. The contrasts and complementary aspects of industry certification and academic qualifications are highlighted. It is therefore concluded, and supported by data from the interviews, that such a credential is indeed appropriate for teachers and analysts of SoDIS

A Monographic Study of the Genus Lycium of the Western Hemisphere

Volume: 19Start Page: 179End Page: 37

AN ABNORMAL PEPPERGRASS

Volume: 8Start Page: 29End Page: 3

ON THE SUBSPECIES OF LEPIDIUM MONTANUM

Volume: 10Start Page: 155End Page: 15

THE GENUS LEPIDIUM IN THE UNITED STATES

Volume: 3Start Page: 265End Page: 32

THE MEXICAN, CENTRAL AMERICAN, AND WEST INDIAN LEPIDIA

Volume: 8Start Page: 118End Page: 14

modestus

Canadanthus modestus (Lindley) G.L. NesomAster modestusabove St. Joe R., 8 miles n. of Averyrocky bankplants strongly rhizomatous; involucral bract glandular, purplish-tinged; rays and disc flowers both purple; pappus chocolat

corymbosus

Erigeron corymbosus Nuttalllong-leaved fleabane;foothill daisyvergerette en corymbeErigeron corymbosus2 mi. up Big Boulder Creek rod., about 8 mi. n. by n.e. of Winthropin open yellow-pine forestplants from stout taproot; rays clear light blu

rivularis

Iliamna rivularis (Douglas) Greenestreambank globe-mallow;mountain hollyhock;streambank wild hollyhockrivularisroad between Wallace and Avery, 1 mi. from summit of grade on the Avery sideon steep shale hillsidewith Pinus monticola, Tsuga mertensiana, and Lariz occidentalisburned about 30 yrs. Ago plant about 4 ft. tall, multistemmed from a large root; petals pinkish-lavender, slightly retuse; anthers pinkish-purple; stigmas reddish-pin