8 research outputs found
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MA TESOL dissertations in a changing global landscape: a case from Iran
This paper has investigated the way the dissertation writing component of MA TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) programmes in Iran has changed over the past decade in relation to globalization. The data, collected from 40 questionnaires completed by Iranian academic staff teaching these programmes, suggest that while change in the content and curriculum has been minimal, some major shifts are observed in the functions MA dissertations serve. The most fundamental change reported is that dissertations are now seen in this local context as an opportunity to respond to the global trend of publish or perish. The analysis of the data demonstrates a complex picture of how global trends, national higher education policies and regulations and the local initiatives interact with one another to turn MA dissertations into a source of research publications
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MA TEFL programmes in Iran: change in a globalised era
This chapter is a modest attempt to investigate how MA TEFL programmes in Iran are changing in a globalised world. Our previous research in this area (Hasrati & Tavakoli, in print; Tavakoli & Hasrati, in preparation) has shown how MAs in English Language Teaching programmes are developing in Anglophone countries, but little or no research has been conducted to study changes in MA TEFL programmes in Iran. In what follows, we will first introduce MA TEFL programmes in Iran, before presenting and discussing different definitions of globalisation. We will then explain how we collected the data for this study and report our findings, making comparisons with the other contexts when appropriate. We will conclude by elaborating on possible extensions of this study in similar contexts
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The rise of non-dissertation track master’s programmes: an academic literacies approach
Although dissertations have traditionally been part of master’s programmes, non-dissertation track master’s are on the rise across the world. This paper reports faculty views on MA TESOL dissertations (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in five Anglophone countries. Drawing on the academic literacies tradition and informed by Bourdieusian concepts of ‘field’, ‘habitus’, and ‘symbolic violence’, the results suggest that the need for more student intake has affected the presence or absence of the dissertation component in MA TESOL programmes
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Globalisation and MA TESOL programs in the UK
This article reports the results of a mixed-methods approach to investigating the association between globalisation and MATESOL in UK universities. Qualitative and quantitative data collected from academic staff through eight emails, four interviews and 41 questionnaires indicate that the globalised context of higher education have affected these programmes in a number of ways including an increasing interest in recruiting more international students and a growing awareness about the need for curriculum and content modifications. The analysis of the data suggests that although change has been an inherent characteristic of these MAs over the past decade, it has been implemented gradually and conservatively, often relying on a dialectic relationship between academic staff and universities’ policies. The results imply that factors other than globalisation have also been at work. Many of the participants contend that globalisation has not lowered the quality of these MAs or standards of good practice
Academic socialisation in the fields of engineering and the social sciences/humanities : a case of Iranian PhD students in the UK
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