Music Generated Narratives: Elaborating the Da Capo Interview Technique

This paper shows how we played researcher-selected extracts of music to participants in “the Da Capo technique,” to elicit narratives of their learning experiences. Previously, we used music alongside other techniques in an interview about learning; here we explore the Da Capo technique as a standalone technique to study its potential for narrative recall. To do this, we played 10 one-minute long extracts of classical music (five “Western” and five “Chinese”) to 20 participants (10 “Western” and 10 “Chinese”). After hearing each piece, participants were asked if the music recalled for them any experiences of learning. When it did so, we explored this further in dialogue and narrative recall. As expected, some narratives related to experiences of studying, academic success, and of particular times and places associated with learning. However, in many cases the music elicited narratives of learning which, surprisingly and in multiple dimensions, related to physical learning, culture, the family, and particular emotions such as sympathy, and of aspects of character, such as optimism and honesty. We provide details of using the technique, where particular music elicited learning experiences and where they did not. We provide further evidence of the value of using music either as a stand-alone method in the qualitative researcher’s toolkit, or as an additional and complementary tool. We discuss the merits, limitations, and potential applications of the Da Capo technique

Avoiding dialogues of non-discovery through promoting dialogues of discovery.

International students and direct entrants—those entering a higher year of a degree—often come from socio-economic or cultural backgrounds different from traditional students, and have different educational backgrounds. It is assumed such students need help with unfamiliar assessment tasks such as essays, reports, and so on, and many sources aim to help with these elements. Further assumptions are that dialogue helps, and that the words used in such dialogue will be understood similarly. Yet, if the assumed meanings of the words actually differ, then such dialogue is based on a false assumption; rather than genuine dialogue, what actually occurs is an exchange of monologic utterances. This article is a structured narrative of our ongoing research into how key assessment task words such as ‘discuss,’ ‘analyse,’ and ‘critically evaluate’ are understood differently in higher education. We describe how such differences are perpetuated through Martin Buber’s (1947) ideas of monologic utterances, and what we call ‘dialogues of non-discovery’. Here we detail a research-based approach to promote genuine and technical dialogue: what we call ‘dialogues of discovery.’ We first introduce a dialogue that led to the genesis of the study and theoretical context of our dialogues with the literature. We then detail our methods of data collection in a section of ‘dialogues of exploration’. We present our findings in the form of categorizations of the different elements underpinning people’s understandings of ‘the word.’ Our own categorizations of these elements encourage dialogue around the elements of language, culture, stakeholder, subject, weight, and development over time. This is an approach we term an ‘anti-glossary approach’ in that it is opposite to, and against, ‘fixing’ or ‘ossifying’ the language in a glossary. In the Bakhtinian tradition of ‘incompletedness,’ we conclude by encouraging readers to take and adapt our findings as an ‘anti-glossary’ approach to engage in genuine and technical dialogue with their students. In this way, we believe the quality and depth of student work can improve

Study Skills: neoliberalism’s perfect Tinkerbell

We argue that current approaches to Study Skills support are presented as being a panacea for resolving the issues presented by neoliberal approaches to educational expansion. We argue that for such a panacea to be believed pedagogically effective, four key tenets must be adhered to: Study skills is a definable entity; it is valuable for every subject; it can be embedded, and; Study Skills helps students succeed in their subjects. We argue these tenets are devoid of any sound pedagogical basis, yet that they are ideal for, and align with, neoliberal ideologies and free market political economy. We consider the organizational structuration of Study Skills as underpinned by Lukes’s third dimension of power, outlining how Study Skills represents a constitutive fantasy, a magical Tinkerbell for all to believe in that solves everyone’s problems. We propose HE dispels this Tinkerbell by ceasing to believe in it, and instead resources subject-based support

Using physical objects as a portal to reveal academic subject identity and thought

We are lecturers who help students studying subjects that use word-based writing, non-word based writing such as Mathematics, and non-text based language such as visual semiotics. To access examples of such language with subject lecturers we have found traditional interviews or focus groups ineffective, and realised that in these, although lecturers could talk about key psychological elements of the language, they had no focus to produce any examples of it. However, we suspected that providing a physical object to describe and discuss would create a context for lecturers to produce the language. Thus, we gave a brightly coloured teapot to Nursing, Psychology, Design, and Engineering lecturers to describe and evaluate in their subjects. This gave us almost instantaneous access to the subject context. For example, Nursing lecturers described and evaluated the teapot for hygiene and patient safety, Engineering lecturers did so for material properties and calculations required. Unexpectedly, many lecturers related how an identity underpinned their language. Thus, the teapot operated as a portal to reveal academic subject identity and thought. We relate how this has helped us in our teaching and suggest ways others can use physical objects in qualitative research to access and research identity and thought

Dealing with the Competition of English-language Export Editions: Voices from the Dutch Trade Book Market

This project explores the responses of the Dutch trade book market to the ever-increasing influx of Anglophone publications. Based on in-depth interviews (n?=?42) carried out between 2015 and 2017 with Dutch publishing professionals, this research identifies the approaches and strategies they adopt to defend their market from the competition of English-language editions. Findings show that the main defence strategy used is to release translations simultaneously with English-language originals, but that this creates significant pressures on both publishers and translators. Concomitantly, there has been an increasing focus on Dutch originals and non-Anglophone books. The strategies and approaches documented in this study may be of interest for scholars and practitioners in relation to other book markets and linguistic areas facing similar circumstances

Challenging the power invested in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS): Why determining ‘English’ preparedness needs to be undertaken within the subject context

Higher Education (HE) institutions worldwide base international student recruitment on the assumption their preparedness in ‘English’ is assured if they reach a certain level in tests such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). This assumes an abstract objectivist view of language that sees the ‘English’ as removable for testing in any context. However, in an individual subjectivist view of language, ‘English’ is inextricably linked with context, i.e. subject content that symbiotically connects thought and meaning. In this paper, we outline these views of language and consider the ‘English’ of IELTS. Next we detail interviews and focus groups we conducted with lecturers in subject areas of Design, Nursing, Engineering, Business, Computing, and Psychology. These researched the ‘English’ required in subjects and the thinking underpinning it. We then present and discuss results around three themes of ‘How ‘English’ is specific to the content of subjects’; ‘How the ‘English’ of subjects is underpinned by unique ideological and psychological elements’ and; ‘How the non-textual elements of different subjects are intertwined with their ‘English’’. Our results illustrate why we need to challenge the power invested in IELTS, and why determining English preparedness needs to be undertaken within the subject context

The role of experienced practitioners in engineering education : the end of an era?

Delivering excellence in higher engineering education is dependent on many variables. This includes programme design, delivery and content, university support and the knowledge, experience and enthusiasm of faculty members. Over the past decade there has been a notable shift in engineering faculty recruitment policy. No longer is the professional and industrial experience of the engineering practitioner revered as a co-opted member of the engineering department. Despite their potential contribution as grounded, practical and relevant engineering lecturers, their impoverished knowledge of research funding mechanisms and lack of research capital is an acute disadvantage. This is a discussion paper exploring the marginalization of experienced practitioners in engineering education and the changing role of the educator as a career academic. The career academic is highly qualified and typically well versed in research activity; however, unlike their industrial counterparts they are devoid of any meaningful practical engineering experience. This changing role of the educator in engineering education has far-reaching consequences for teaching and learning and future industry skills. Given the longstanding connection between theory and practice in engineering education, this departure in pedagogical policy arguably signals the end of an era. The systematic fragmentation of engineering theory from industrial practice within higher education institutes arguably needs to be challenged. Recent government rhetoric to focus on the pedagogical aspects through a Teaching Excellence Framework is arguably aiming at the wrong target. Instead, reconstructing engineering programmes fit for the twenty-first century will require alternative teaching strategies, revitalised industrial advisory boards and uncommon leadership within engineering faculties

The impact of National Qualifications Frameworks: by which yardstick do we measure dreams?

National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) are a global phenomenon. This is evidenced by their scale, coverage and intrinsic link with education policy across Europe and beyond. Research into their impact has encompassed a number of perspectives; theoretical, practical and evaluative. Yet, despite the existence of critical literature related to the development, design and impact of NQFs, little research has questioned the actual feasibility of researching the ‘impact’ of NQFs per se. The arguments in this paper position such research as both unfeasible and futile: a dream for which it is impossible to identify a suitable yardstick to measure. We base our argument around three broad themes: linguistics and semantics; homogeneity; and methodological complexity. Around these themes, we aim to show why such research has proved problematic and, in doing so, contribute to the field as it explores the impact of NQFs in the future